Photos by Dan Townsend
If you thought the LaRue County Hawks were a sure thing to be standing in the Winner’s Circle at the end of the 2023 5th Region Baseball Championship at the beginning of the Tournament play at Elizabethtown’s Ron Myers Field last Sunday, then you might want to have your crystal ball looked at by a repairman. Going into the first day of play on Sunday (the Hawks were scheduled to play Game One on Sunday), they would possibly be facing three teams (if they got past the first and second round) that defeated them (three were sound thrashings) and to make things even more dire, they lost the District Championship game to Green County.
So imagine the surprise, after all the dust cleared and the Hawks were hoisting the Region Winner’s trophy on a warm sunny evening last Wednesday after reliever Brady Skaggs came on in the seventh after Daniel Allen pitched six innings and retiring the last two Panther batters on fly balls.
The 6-4 victory may have been Hawk head coach Kellen Lobb’s first Region Title since he took over for Chase Greenwell after the 2019 season, but it carried plenty of the marvelous memories of their last Regional Championship way back in 2018 under coach Eric Allen.
Both had plenty of weird twists which I’ll go into a bit later, but for sure after dropping the District Final, LaRue County would be consigned to the Losers Bracket and would have to face a District winner in the first game at least. Imagine looking at that Region bracket and seeing Washington County, possibly Taylor County if they survived that one and then ending up playing Elizabethtown in the Championship game on their own home field.
So, LaRue County started their magical mystery tour through the gauntlet on Sunday and thanks to a complete seven inning pitching performance by Jameson LaRue (4-hits/12-K’s) and a couple of RBI’s by LaRue and Sean Rivera, the Hawks shutout the Commanders, 3-0.
Game Two was a bit tougher as Taylor County (who won a shootout against LaRue County back in March 14-12) not only put the pressure on early, but built a 3-0 lead on starter Brayden Singleton, but the CARDIAC HAWKS came right back in the third inning when Ryan Hughes hit a bases loaded double with two outs tying things up and setting the stage for a huge Hawk inning when they scored four runs in the fifth with two out highlighted by Allen’s RBI triple and Carson Childress’ RBI single to ballon the score to 7-3. However, the game was far from over even though Singleton settled down, but was bit for three more runs in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Luke Hayes and then an RBI hit by Austin Garrett. Another run made it 7-6, but after Skaggs entered in the seventh to close things out, a leadoff single by Taylor County was stranded as the Hawks survived another one.
If LaRue County’s guardian angel was still watching over them, the following evening would really be put to the test as they faced Elizabethtown for the Title and their former coach Chase Greenwell. Ironically, Greenwell did win a Region Championship in 2021 as the former Panther took over the Elizabethtown program and it was another test of endurance for the Hawks as they were beaten twice by the Panthers during the regular season, but this was the playoffs and they would need every edge they could muster.
With Daniel Allen getting the start for Lobb, Elizabethtown took a 1-0 lead when Austin Jennings reached on an error scoring Caleb Irwin. After the Hawks tied it up on Childress’s double in the bottom of the inning plating Brayden Singleton, the Panthers retook the lead in the third Ryder Gregory scored on a wild pitch.
Then like they did during the Region Tourney, the Hawks responded.
During every win-or-go home situation, there are several moments that define a team and a season for the winner. Maybe the ball bounces the right way or the batter hits the ball just an inch or two to the right for a double down the foul line instead of out of play.
For LaRue County, the bottom of the third was that moment.
Jaxson Thomas scored on Singleton’s single and then after Allen walked with the bases loaded to put the Hawks ahead for the first time at 3-2, Childress hit a sacrifice fly to score Lucas Evans to expand the lead to 4-2.
Then in the bottom of the fifth, Thomas hit a two out, two-run single to score both Childress and Allen and make it 6-2. That turned out to be a valuable two extra runs as things got interesting again as the Hawks kept their fans and themselves on edge during this rollercoaster ride of a season.
Daniel Allen, who struggled a bit during the first couple innings settled down, but with one aboard in the seventh inning, Carter Moberly sent him home on a cannon shot to make it 6-4. With Thomas’ extra runs now playing a huge role in the score, Lobb brought in Skaggs, who did what every fireman does in this situation which is put out fires. Skaggs retired the next batters on 10-pitches and the Hawks won.
When the Hawks stormed the field for the improbable celebration, it may have never dawned on them just how difficult it was what they achieved. Not only did they win three straight games, two in dramatic fashion, but they also won the Championship against a team which was playing very well themselves and on their home court. Although Eric Allen understood the importance of what the team did, Lobb was experiencing this as a head guy for the first time and both he and the team were ecstatic in their joy.
Ironically, in the other dugout, Chase Greenwell knows both sides of the story as he won the Regional Final in his first season as Panther head coach (2021) and the happiness it brings along with the problems of repeating as he has been in the last two Region Championship games as well. His Panthers will return plenty of starters next season and should be back.
Two who reveled in the celebration was Childress and Allen, who experienced the pain of losing the 5th Region Basketball Championship game just last March against Elizabethtown and finally getting to experience the winning side of it for the first time.
So, LaRue County will begin preparations for their first trip to Lexington’s Counter Clocks field for an early morning first pitch Friday at 10:00 against Whitley County. Looks like the city of Lexington better get ready for plenty of Blue and White there as the Hawks are looking forward to hopefully a long stay and they’ll find out if their guardian angel is still on duty then.
Building the perfect Rotation: A baseball coaches’ job during the regular season is to put together a rotation for a short series and a long series if need be. That being said, a defense is just as important as dropped balls or errors can overturn that progress. One glaring problem during the Hawks five regular season losses to their Region foes was pitching. In the two Washington County losses (3/16 10-3 and 5/9 8-0), Lobb was forced to use 5-different pitchers in the first game and 4-different in the second one. Against Taylor County (3/27), he used 4-different pitchers and in the first Elizabethtown game (3/20), he used 4-pitchers also. The Regional playoffs was a different matter. Washington County (LaRue complete game win 114-pitches), Taylor County (Singleton 6-innings 111-p/Skaggs 1-inning 16-p) and Elizabethtown (Allen 6-innings 101-p/ Skaggs 1-inning 10-p). Getting the perfect rotation in a single elimination tourney can usually be hit and miss. For Lobb, it was definitely a home run.
Seems a lot like 2018: The similarities are a little striking. The Hawks last Region Title took longer than usual to finish up and it took seven days to do it. Game one against Elizabethtown was on a Monday at John Hardin and was postponed because of a rainstorm and finally finished up Friday evening at LaRue County. The last several games were finished Saturday afternoon at John Hardin and the Final Four was played that evening with the Championship game on Sunday afternoon. One more thing, The Hawks were nearly eliminated on Saturday night, but staged an amazing comeback to beat Campbellsville and then overcame two deficits against Central Hardin in the final to finally win.
