When Bowling Green and Greenwood met for Game 3 of their District 14 series Thursday afternoon at Bowling Green High School, the focus was on more than just the game itself.
The two teams, community members, other area baseball players and many others joined together to host “Playing for Mason” night, which celebrated the life of Mason Goodnight. Goodnight, a 10-year-old boy, passed away suddenly on April 6. He was a fourth-grader at Cumberland Trace Elementary and would have attended Greenwood High School.
Goodnight, a part of the Bowling Green East Little League organization for the past two seasons and a member of the BG East 9-10 All-Star teams in both 2015 and 2016, was honored with a pregame ceremony in front of a packed house at Harold J. Stahl Field.
Both clubs wore special uniforms with “Goodnight” on the back and “11” on the right sleeves, as Mason wore that number on his jersey. Mason’s father, Jef, threw out the first pitch and donations were accepted for the Mason Goodnight Fund.
“I love the Goodnight family – I’ve known them for a long time,” Greenwood coach Jason Jaggers said following the game. “Jef was one of my coaches growing up. His son and my son were best friends and it’s tough. You hate to have to do a night like this under the circumstances, but to celebrate the life of Mason and everything he’s done, it’s good.”
Those who missed Thursday’s event and are wishing to donate can do so at any local American Bank and Trust or at MasonGoodnightFund.com.
As far as the game goes, both sides battled until the very end, but the Purples (15-8, 7-2 District 14) prevailed, escaping with a 5-4 win to claim the series sweep.
Three different Purples had multi-hit performances, helping them outhit Greenwood (12-12, 3-5 District 14) 10-8. Tyler Stahl went 2-for-4 and finished with an RBI while starter Jackson Haga allowed four hits and three runs in five innings. Luke Brown closed and gave up four hits and a run in three complete frames.
With Jay Buser on third base and Stahl at the plate, Bowling Green had the winning run cross on a dropped throw to home plate on a fielder’s choice. That ended the extra-inning affair in a quite unique way and extended the Purples’ winning streak to four games.
“I looked at Coach Jaggers and I was just like, ‘Did that just happen?’,” BG coach Matt Myers remarked of the way the game concluded. “I told our guys that I didn’t know if we deserved to win that game; we played hard, but we gave (Greenwood) a lot of chances to do some things.”
Bowling Green jumped out to a 3-0 lead after three innings. In the bottom of the third, Brown recorded an RBI single while Nick Meyer hit a sacrifice fly and Stahl doubled for an RBI. However, Greenwood plated three runs of its own in the ensuing inning to even it.
The Gators’ scoring came courtesy of John Hicks’ RBI double, Connor Cline’s RBI single prior to Tyler Cook stealing home. Cook replaced Hicks on the bases to courtesy run.
“I am proud of the way our guys fought back,” Jaggers stated. “We get down 3-0, but our guys dug their spikes in and they continued to fight. We had opportunities to win the game. I was proud that we didn’t quit and continued to fight.”
Brown’s solo homerun in the fourth put the Purples up 4-3, but Cline crossed the plate on a passed ball in the seventh to tie it again. It wouldn’t be until the bottom of the eighth inning when BG walked off on the dropped throw to home.
“That last inning we put some things together – and I wished we would’ve come through a little better than that – but we found a way,” Myers said.
As Greenwood looks to regroup on Saturday in a contest against Portland, Tennessee and versus Warren East next week, Bowling Green tries to keep its momentum rolling into their next slate against South Warren.
Myers says he’s ready to see what that series holds for his group.
“I’m just excited for our kids,” he added. “It’s not going to be easy, especially with two of the three at South’s place. They’re an older and physical lineup and we’re going to have to play better than we did tonight.”
-Follow Sporting Times High School Insider Tyler Mansfield on Twitter @CallMeMansfield–
