The 5th Region baseball championship was late into the bottom of the seventh inning and it looked like it might be one of those games that could just last forever as neither team wanted to lose. Finally, Ryder Gregory, who singled to lead off and stole second came home for the winning run on Eli Brown’s line drive shot that just escaped the centerfielder’s outreached glove. When Gregory came flying towards home plate, he knew that both himself and the Elizabethtown Panthers had come a long way to not only win the 5th Region Tournament, but punched their first ticket to semi-state since 2016.
To say that the Panthers were overwhelming favorites coming into the Region Tournament at Bardstown would be an overstatement as even though they looked steady at times during the season they would hit gliches where they would look very mortal. Some of it was that fact that several starters didn’t get to play during the early stages of the 2021 baseball season because they were participating in the State Basketball tournament. After a three game stretch when they lost three straight to Central Hardin, Bullitt East and Male, Elizabethtown stood at 14-10. First year coach Chase Greenwell knew not to panic and simply allowed the team to come together and after winning the 17th District Championship, they went into the Region Tourney and cut through both Bethlehem and powerful Taylor County by a combined score of 13-1. In both games, Greenwell got great pitching from seniors Camden Williams and Jacob Moberly, but the best was yet to come as they now faced the home team and one of the early favorites in the Championship game in Bardstown.
The Tigers were an interesting story in themselves as this might have been the best Bardstown team that coach Glenn Koger has had and this team has shown a flair for the dramatics winning both Region games in come-from-behind fashion including a spine tingling nine-inning 5-4 win over Campbellsville. Koger had gotten great pitching games from both Will Koger and Brady Clark and now they faced a Panther team which they had actually played back in the opening round of the Region Tourney in 2017 and knocked them off.
It looked like the Panthers would end the suspense early when Eli Brown homered in the first inning and Elizabethtown added two more runs to build a 3-1 lead after four innings. In fact, they could have added more when Elizabethtown loaded the bases in the first, but Tiger pitcher Jay Curtsinger got out of the jam. The Tigers finally responded by tying the score in the top of the fifth when Jay Markiss Calbert scored on Clark’s double and then he scored on a single by DonTaye Tinnell to tie it up at 3-3. Like Curtsinger, Caleb Adams pitched out of several jams after his opposite number Curtsinger got a two-out single, stole second and third, but was left stranded. Adams preserved the tie going into the bottom of the seventh when Calbert got a leadoff single in the top of the inning, but was thrown out trying to steal second. Adams ended up with eight strikeouts and scattered nine hits until Gregory got things going in the bottom of the inning and then stole second until Brown finalized the victory with his shot to center.
Elizabethtown Panther baseball players celebrated during the trophy ceremony, while the Bardstown Tigers stood and watched while pondering “What Might Have Been.” They had come so far so quickly in several years and this senior class that played their last game will be most difficult to replace.
On the otherhand, the Panthers are celebrating their first Region Title in baseball in four years and the school is continuing the cycle as the sports program is on a run this season that may be almost impossible to match (The Main Sports: Football, Basketball and now Baseball have clinched Region Titles) in the future. Both Football and Basketball reached the Championship games in those categories.The baseball Panthers will find out if they can match that starting this Saturday at 4:30 at Elizabethtown high school in semi-state against the Region 8 champion Collins.
Chase Greenwell, who played in several Semi-State games as a member of the Panthers were unable to get past the best-of three format back in 2007 and 2009 and in 2019, Elizabethtown was eliminated in the District semi-finals by Central Hardin. It was the first time Elizabethtown did not qualify for the Region Tournament since 2013, so embracing the underdog role like they did during the Region tourney this year is kind of new to this team, but as long as the wins keep piling up I’m sure they’ll take it as far it they can carry them.
