The Slipper Still Fits!
Just recently, the Breckinridge County Baseball team was refered to as the the “Cinderella Team” of the KHSAA Baseball state tournament and if you look at the facts maybe there are right!
The Tigers have NEVER been to a State Tournament.
They have already beaten some highly ranked teams to get there.
They have not been highly ranked all season long.
They have had some strange things happen along the way that may have helped them.
Despite that, Breckinridge baseball coach Jeremy Bennett doesn’t worry about that and has just enjoyed the ride just as his team has and much like the volleyball team, which made their first EVER trip to the KHSAA State Tournament last season have taken the entire town with them to Lexington.
True! The Tigers have talent and some players which have played up to their potential during a dream season. Case in point! Pitcher Preston Cottrell has been amazing throwing 36-pitches against Owensboro Catholic in the 3rd Region Championship win helping to supplement Isaac Seeger’s marvelous performance (4.2-innings / 66-pitches ) as the two allowed just two runs in a 5-2 win.
Bennett has a couple guys, who can throw hard and have a combined 16-2 record along with guys like Jacob Ball, Brock Lucas and Cohl Proctor who have logged innings and have won a combined 10-games between them.
How about the fact that Breckinridge County won the 3rd Region final in two different ballparks. The game started at Shifley Park in Owensboro and was finished a day later in WKU in Bowling Green. By the way, that’s where the Tigers beat South Warren in their first State Tournament game (Semi-state) with Cottrell throwing a complete game win (allowing just 7-hits/ 3-runs / 1-K and 83-pitches). Meanwhile, the Tigers pounded out nine hits with Proctor and Kobe Poole getting five of them and Mitchell Kaeveon getting two of the team’s seven RBI’s.
How about their spectacular win over No.2 Ranked Beechwood, who had only lost once coming into the Elite Eight game at Whitaker Bank Ballpark in Lexington, KY. After getting home runs by Jacob Ball and Cole Tabor to help build a 6-2 lead in the top of the third, but then it looked like the Tigers gave it right back allowing 4-runs in the bottom of that inning. Cottrell, who threw over 70-pitches was relieved by Brock Lucas, who pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh before the weather forced a game stoppage with the score tied at 6-all. Bennett was forced to use Isacc Seeger Thursday morning when the game restarted at 11:00 am because Lucas had reached a pitch count limitation and when Breckinridge County plated four runs in the top of the eighth, Lucas became the winning pitcher, while Seeger got the save when he threw a scoreless bottom of the eighth.
The big question was “How Much Did the Game Stoppage Help The Tigers?” One thing is for sure, Beechwood starter Brett Holladay, who threw seven innings deserved a better fate. After getting rocked in the third, he settled down and didn’t allow anymore runs until he was relieved by Carter Noah in the eighth, who allowed four runs, but the biggest blow happened after Breck had scored the go-ahead run after allowing back to back singles to open the bottom half of the eighth, then Trenton Brown advanced to third on a passed ball and a single by Proctor plated him to make the score 7-6. Noah, then intentionally walked the next batter to reload the bases for a force out situation and a Jacob Ball popup was dropped when the two Beechwood fielders ran into each other allowing the three base runners to score and make the final score 10-6.
Once again, the Tigers had survived and proved that the Glass Slipper still fit.
Still, tomorrow is a new day and Breckinridge County’s next opponent is Lexington Tates Creek. A 32-7 winner from Region 11 and another day where the Tigers will be tested because No One Believes!
Does Bennett and the Breckinridge County Baseball team really care?
Probably not.
That’s the magic of being an underdog in a situation when you have nothing to lose. So tomorrow, weather permitting of course, the Tigers and their fanatical fans will travel all the way from Hardinsburg to Lexington and along the way, you can hear the song “Elivra” blaring on the way down as they take the field for a 5:30 first pitch tomorrow with the hopes that midnight hasn’t arrived for them.
