2018 KHSAA State Baseball Tournament
LaRue’s Season Ends Too Quickly!
It was suppose to be a memorable run. Just like in 2003 when the Hawks last reached the Baseball State Tournament. It was suppose to be a long run that would last into the following weekend and give the LaRue County baseball long suffering fans.
It simply was not to be.
The fina score which was 10-0 in favor of Boyle County in just five innings was far from pretty and it got very ugly very quickly.
The postseason, the longest for LaRue County baseball since in 15 years got off to a long and winding start to begin with. Slated to play the late 8:30 Thursday Night game, first pitch didn’t take off until nearly 10:00 that night and against a Boyle County team which was ready to take off from the get go. So Hawk head coach Eric Allen choose to start Blake Shelton and his first pitch in the top of the first was met by Boyle County sophomore Grant Hotchkiss, who quickly deposited it over the outfield wall for one of the fastest leads by a team in state tournment history. Then after Rebel starter Sam Tiller got the Hawks out in the bottom of the first, Boyle County went right back to work against Shelton getting six more runs on a leadoff single by Tristan Helton, errors on a grounder and a bunt to get Helton home. Then Cameron Yates got another run home with a sacrafic fly after a strikeout and Hotchkiss contiued the inning with a double scoring another run. After a walk, Ty Dragon nailed a triple that score two more runs to make it 7-0.
After getting out of the fourth inning not allowing a run, Shelton ran into trouble again in the fourth when both Hotchkiss and Mason drew back-to-back walks with one out and then Dragon singled scoring Hotchkiss with one out. After a walk, Helton delivered a two run single to bring the final tally to 10-0.
After the final Hawk out was recorded, the LaRue County baseball season had come to a quick and unfortunate end. They were unable to do anything offensely against Tiller getting just one hit (a double by Noah Davis in the second) and commited three errors defensively.
This year’s LaRue County team will still be remembered as the one that finally after so many talented teams and so many unfortunate opportunites wasted DID IT. They will be a tough act to follow with so many seniors leaving (8 to be precise) it might be quite awhie before this happens again.
Still, like Haley’s Comet which happens once every lifetime, it certainly should be worth the wait.
