There are so many great stories when looking back through high school sports history and the 5th Region has it’s share of them. One of them may have been the 2014 Elizabethtown Baseball team. Not so much for what they did, but how they got there.
There entire season was full of strange turns and weird events that if one didn’t occur at just the right time, we may not even be talking about them now.
This team didn’t always have the overpowering performances of the 2010-2011-2012-2013 Central Hardin Bruins baseball team which dominated an entire four year period leaving very little room for doubt. The Panther team, which had been competitive for so many seasons and then suddenly hit a major speed bump in the road during the 2013 season when they were eliminated by North Hardin in the second round of the 17th District Tournament went without a Region Tournament appearance for the first time since 2003. Ironically, that team would set the stage for a magnificant nine year run in which they played in the Region Final six times during that period and won three of those times.
Many felt that maybe the Panther baseball program might be in a slump that might carry on for a two or three year cycle until they could rebuild.
How wrong they were.
The 2014 Elizabethtown team would win 28-games, would win the 17th District Championship and the 5th Region Championship. The last two were far from easy.
Around a group of upperclassmen and experienced youngsters, the Panthers behind coach Don Pitts had plenty of talent and a great pitching rotation which featured Jack Wilson, Cody Bridges, Zach McKinney that was caught by a versatile catcher Zeke Pinkham. But the surprise of the pitching staff was a sophomore named Hunter Sullivan,w ho had a tricky fastball that baffled enemy batters.
So effective were the Panthers that they didn’t lose two straight all season long, but they were not the only surprises that year as several other teams were making noise with veteran talent.
In a 5th Region loaded with experienced players, Bethlehem and Nelson County were having great years and there was still Central Hardin, who still felt like they were the odds on favorite to represent the Region again at the KHSAA state tournament in June.
As I said, the Panthers were good that season, but there may have been a little luck not to mention Mother Nature as well had a hand in their season falling into place for a historic and unforgettable run.
Break One occurred after both Elizabethtown and Central Hardin won their semi-final games to reach the District Final at Elizabethtown high school. On a dark and gloomy Wednesday night both teams took their best shots at each other and after the Panthers built a lead late, the Bruins caught fire and tied the game at 4-4. Then the rumble of thunder halted play as darkness fell in Elizabethtown. After a night of storms and thunder, the game was resumed the following day and Sullivan (who hadn’t pitched the day before) took the mound for the Panthers. The sophomore hurler was unhittable to Bruin batters and the Panthers scratched out a run in the eighth inning for a 5-4 District Championship win.
Break Two occurred when Elizabethtown was matched up against Nelson County in the first round of the Region Tourney at Central Hardin High school. The Cardinals were one of the deepest pitching staffs in the Region until a mass wave of late season injuries and odd happenings sidelined their top three pitchers, so Nelson County coach Kelly Wood sent junior Parker Taylor to face the hot Panthers and they pounded them for ten-runs in five innings for a E-town win.
Mother Nature played a part in their Third Break as both the Panthers and Bethlehem Eagles advanced to the Region Final that was to be played on a Thursday night because of you guessed it weather issues. The Eagles, like the Cardinals, but healthier and they had a great rotation as well. Both teams really matched up well. So, with Sullivan on the mound for Elizabethtown and Conner Ballard for the Eagles, runs should be at a minium.
Once again, weather played a part in the end of this story. The 5th Region Final has had a history of postpondments. After one inning went scorless, dark skies and thunder stopped play again and after Friday night was a no go, play resumed on a bright sunny Saturday afternoon with both Ballard and Sullivan dueling off. Eagles coach eventually replaced Ballard with Alan Webb and then short reliever Jimmy Keating. Sullivan went all the way for the Panthers and showed unsual nerve as he was able to hold the dangerous Eagle batters scorless just like he did in an earlier regular season game.
In the end, it came down to Sullivan, who helped his own cause by reaching base, advancing on a bunt then was lifted for a pinchrunner which scored the only run of the game on a fielders choice. That one run proved to be the difference in a 1-0 score that gave Elizabethtown the 5th Region Championship.
Although it was a team effort, Sullivan’s performance really put him on centerstage as the sophomore pitched in one of the biggest games of his young career and threw bullets much of the game. What stood out the most was his ability to come back from 3-0 counts which he seemed to be in several times during the course of the game by throwing fastballs which blew by Eagle batters. As a result, after allowing two baserunners in the first inning on Thursday night, he didn’t allow the Eagles to threaten once on Saturday afternoon.
The Panthers were in the KHSAA State Tournament, but were playing in Lexington for the first time since the first round was moved to Whitaker Bank Park in 2010 and wondered just how far they could go this time around. Just as luck can carry a team a long way, only talent can go just as far. Elizabethtown was facing another talented team in North Bullitt and for the first time that season, the Panthers Guardian Angel chose to desert them.
Cody Bridges got the start for Elizabethtown, but Sullivan got things going early with a solo shot, but North Bullitt (29-10) came right back finally getting to Bridges and scoring four times to eventually take a 4-1 lead going to the sixth. That’s when the Panthers jumped on Josh Exton scoring three times to tie the score at 4-4. Sullivan entered in the fifth, but an error allowed several runs to score and Eagles eventually won, 6-5.
After so many near misses and strange events, the Panthers season came to an unlikely conclusion. It certainly was quite a ride though. Still, there were plenty of storylines to talk about afterwards with guys like Pinkham, Bridges, McKinney and Payne, but Sullivan’s year helped push him into the spotlight and Elizabethtown back into the State Tournament again.
It would be nice to say that Elizabethtown would move on and eventually win the ultimate prize but it didn’t happen quite that way.
Oh Yes! They did move on to greater glory. The Panthers went 32-9 in 2015 and then 33-6 in 2016 and won the 5th Region Tournament both times during those years putting a cap on a successful three-year run for the team.
They beat the Central Hardin Bruins both times in the Region Title game. A longtime tormentor, but those two trips to the KHSAA State tournament movie had bad endings. In 2015, Elizabethtown faced Apollo in game one and won 8-1. Bridges, Wilson, McKinney and Tyson Brown each had two-hits and Bridges and Graham Meek threw three-innings each allowing only one run for the Panthers first state win in recent history. The joy of victory lasted just a couple days as West Jessamine pounded out 14-hits off three Elizabethtown hurlers and sent them packing 12-6. The following season, Elizabethtown ran into a team in the first round that had never won a state tournament game until now. McCracken County put eight-runs after four innings and won 8-3.
As for Hunter Sullivan, his sophomore season could have been the highlight of his high school career because no one could have predicted how his junior and senior season would end. In 2015, Sullivan felt something pop in his arm after throwing a pitch against Central Hardin in a regular season game on April 15th and later discovered an arm injury that sidelined him for the rest of the season. Both he and catcher Zeke Pinkham, who also suffered a season ending injury were both forced to watch the Panthers celebrate their state trip from the dugout. The following season, Sullivan came back healthy and strong and was unhittable again, but during the 5th Region Championship game at Hart County high school against rival Central Hardin, he was ejected after hitting two batters and although the Panthers eventually and went to state, he would be unavaliable to pitch Game One as would Paul Fiepke (who was also ejected for the same offense).
I remember asking Sullivan “If someone would have told you after your sophomore year that the team would go to the state tournament the next two, but you wouldn’t be able to pitch in either year would you have been surprised?” His answer was quite predictabe. “Well, I would like to know why!”
In many ways, the 2015 season may have been a true testament to the depth of the team after losing two of their best players. Matt Coolidge, Austin Freyberger, Zech Mauldin both came into their own and Meek, Wilson and Brady Swift made big contributions as did Payne and Gavin Wood as Elizabethtown cruised to their second Region Title in two seasons.
Then in 2016, after Sullivan was ejected in the Region final, the Panthers went on a tear offensively after the Bruins seized the momentum and appeared to have control of their destiny and the game. Coach Pitts probably did his best job of coaching during those two seasons finding ways to plug hole and develop a rotation after the injury to Sullivan in 2015 and the graduation of Bridges in 2016. Also, Mauldin’s transfer from Nelson County proved to be an important one after Pinkham went down in 2015 as he stepped in at catcher and the pitching staff didn’t miss a beat.
As for the Panthers baseball team, just as quickly as they returned to prominance, they suddenly dropped a notch again. After the 2016 season, Elizabethtown did make consecutive trips to the Region Tournament, but were eliminated in the first round by Bardstown (2017) and LaRue County (2018) in another rain delayed game that took nearly five days to complete.
In 2019, they were eliminated by Central Hardin in the semi-finals of the District Tournament and play was cancelled in 2020 because of a pandemic.
The story of the 2014 Elizabethtown baseball team was indeed an interesting one because when you think of sports and the longevity of team success and how quickly it comes and goes in cycles, this is it. For three years, this team was able to maintain success despite crippling injuries to key personnel that might have ruined some team’s success and just like that it came and went.
I always called the Region Champion years from 2014-to-2016 the “Hunter Sullivan Years” even though he was really only around about two of those seasons.
When I asked him about it, Sullivan smiles and deflects attention towards the coaches and team success. I’m sure that to this day, he still feels like he should have been out there for those games he missed and maybe he could have helped make a difference.
Maybe even a happier ending.
As if three trips to State isn’t happy enough.
