KING — West Stokes and Morehead faced off against each other in the Mid-State 2A Conference Tournament Championship for a third time in as many years on Thursday, May 2. The Wildcats won back-to-back championships with a 3-2 victory over the No. 1 Panthers.
A double by Spencer Boles in the top of the first inning gave the Wildcats a 2-0 advantage.
Tyler Moran doubled with one out and then moved to third on Dylan Gastley’s ground out. Matt Rierson walked and then Boles’ hit scored Moran and pinch runner Sam Reeves.
The Wildcats added a run in the top of the second when Gus Santoro doubled and scored on Kahle Lickfeld’s single.
Morehead shrank the Cats led to 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth after West committed two errors and gave up two walks. Gastley induced a ground ball to conference tournament MVP, Dru Hall, to end the inning with the Cats up one run.
Gastley earned the win for West with Caiden Mendenhall picking up the save. Gastley gave up four hits, and no earned runs over six innings, striking out two and walking six. Mendenhall struck out Dylan Stallings to end the game.
Moran, Boles, Santoro, Lickfeld had one hit each with Boles adding 2RBIs and Lickfeld one. Moran, Santoro, Reeves scored a run each. Lucas Brooks led Morehead by going 2-for-3 with a double. Three of the four hits by Morehead were doubles.
Joining Hall on the All-Tournament team was Moran, Lickfeld, Boles, and Gastley. Gastley was announced as the Mid-State 2A Pitcher of the Year with Mikah Webster, Holden Gibbs, Hall, and Boles earning All-Conference.
The Wildcats ended the season at 20-5 overall and was set to play Pine Lake Prep in the first round of the state playoffs on Tuesday when the weather delayed the game until Wednesday, May 8 at 7 p.m. Morehead finished the season 22-2 and will play Southwestern Randolph (9-14) on Wednesday as well.
West Stokes 3, Morehead 2
West Stokes 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 — 3 4 4
Morehead 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 — 2 6 0
2B: Spencer Boles (WS), Tyler Moran (WS), Will Santoro (WS), Lucas Brooks (M); HBP: Briar Woods (M); SB: Brittyn Barnes (M); CS: Spencer Boles (WS), Jackson Berger (M); Errors: Dylan Gastley (WS), Holden Gibbs (WS), Tyler Moran (WS), Will Santoro (WS)
West Stokes Pitching — Dylan Gastley — (W) 6IP, 4H, 2R, 0ER, 6BB, 2K; Caiden Mendenhall — 1IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, BB, 2K
Morehead Pitching — Carson Moore (L) — 5IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, 4BB, 2K; Anderson Nance — 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 4K
Records: West Stokes 20-5, Morehead 22-2
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