AFTON — Having lost twice to Chuckey-Doak during the regular season, both in one-run games, it seemed inevitable that somewhere along the line in post-season play West Greene would see their old county rival again.
Thursday night was that post-season meeting, and the third-seeded Buffaloes avenged those two season setbacks by taking a 9-4 victory over the second-seeded Knights to advance in the winner’s bracket of the District 1-2A Baseball Tournament.
The win moved the Buffs into Friday’s clash with top-seeded South Greene, which defeated Happy Valley on Thursday in the other semifinal game. The tournament, now a double-elimination affair, has moved to Hal “Buddy” Pruitt Field at West Greene for the remainder of the event. Chuckey-Doak and Happy Valley were slated to play an elimination game on Friday night.
The tournament finals are Saturday, with an elimination game set for noon and the title tilt to follow. If a second game is needed to determine the champ, it will be played on Monday.
“In our dugout (at West Greene) we have a board that the guys write on and keep track of things, including our record, and before the tournament started I erased that record and told the boys that this record now doesn’t matter,” Buff coach Adrian Sauceman said. “It starts all over at tournament time.”
With two crack pitchers toeing the rubber Thursday on the Knights’ home field – Braden McCamey of WG and Christian Derry of C-D, the big crowd was expecting another pitcher’s duel, but the offense was up to the task on both sides as the bats cracked often with hits. Unfortunately, both sides also made some fielding blunders and mental miscues. Those mistakes cost both teams, but they hurt the Knights the worse and West Greene took advantage.
Jud Higgins led off the game with a single for West Greene, stole second and went to third on a throwing error by the catcher. He scored on Mason McCamey’s sacrifice fly for a 1-0 WG lead. But the Black Knights answered to score three times in the home half of the first as a lead-off hit by Jake Hinkle was followed by back-to-back infield errors on the Buffs and two runs came across. Then Colyer Franklin laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to plate another run.
Derry pitched a perfect second inning for Chuckey-Doak, and the Knights scored a solo run in the second to up their lead to 4-1. With two outs Hinkle walked, stole second and scored on Lynkin Cutshaw’s base hit.
But after that second inning McCamey buckled down and never allowed another C-D run as he went the distance on the mound.
“I thought Braden did a good job of controlling the game,” Sauceman said. “We didn’t help him much there early by not making some plays we should have made. But we played pretty solid the rest of the game.”
West Greene took the lead for keeps in the top of the third by sending 10 men to the plate and scoring five of them to turn a 4-1 deficit into a 6-4 advantage. They loaded the bases with nobody out on a hit by Connor Campbell, an error, another single by Higgins, which scored a run, and Jhonen Bath was hit by a pitch. With one out, Braden McCamey’s infield grounder was bobbled and two runs scored, while Maddox Garber and Aiden Willett followed with RBI singles.
West Greene improved their lead to 7-4 with a lone run in the fifth. Mason McCamey cracked a double off the right field fence and scored on an infield error.
Braden McCamey then worked himself out a real predicament in the bottom of the fifth. Cutshaw and Derry both reached with hits to start the C-D inning. But McCamey got a fly out, a strikeout, and brother Mason came up with a good play at third when he fielded a slow roller off the bat of Gavin Crum and came up firing to nab Crum at first and save a run.
Chuckey-Doak never threatened again, while the Buffs plated two insurance runs in the seventh. Mason McCamey hit another one off the right field fence and later scored on a balk call, and Campbell beat out an infield hit that scored another run.
Higgins, Mason McCamey, Willett and Campbell each had two hits for the winners. Braden McCamey went the distance, scattered nine hits, struck out nine and walked only one. The Buffs are now 18-8 on the year.
Cutshaw, Derry and James Seidl each had two hits for Chuckey-Doak.
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