It will be a battle of the unbeatens in the All A 9th Region Baseball semifinals between the Beechwood Tigers and the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds. Both are 7-0 on the season.
The game is slated for Thursday at 7:30 p.m. But the other quarterfinal games between Villa Madonna and Bellevue along with Newport and St. Henry have to be played first. They were rained out Tuesday along with the other games on the schedule in the area. They will take place Wednesday at Beechwood.
But Beechwood has a turf field and the rain stopped around game time. Beechwood Head Coach Kevin Gray said Beechwood’s field dries up quick.
“I used to coach there so I know those kids really well,” Gray said. “They’re a scrappy bunch. Our guys had to be prepared for a battle.”
The Tigers made it to the All A Semifinals with a 15-0 three-inning run-ruling of the Ludlow Panthers (4-8). Neither team made any errors.
But Beechwood batted .600 (9 for 15) and took advantage of nine walks from three different Panthers pitchers. Beechwood junior pitcher Matthew Kappes struck out five Panthers and allowed no walks and just one hit in nine at-bats for a .111 average.
Junior left fielder Landon Johnson led Beechwood going 2 for 2 with a grand slam home run, five runs batted in and one run scored. Senior third baseman Jackson Roseburrough went 2 for 3 with a double, two RBI and three runs scored.
“At the time, the game was relatively close,” Johnson said of his grand slam. “They brought in a new pitcher. So I was thinking first pitch, sit back on it, drive it. Once that happened, I feel our bats picked up from there and everyone just had a fantastic day.”
The Tigers had six extra-base hits total. Junior catcher Brice Estep also homered and had two RBI. Junior right fielder Cameron Boyd tripled with senior first baseman Tanner Jackson and senior Jack Briney adding doubles. Briney drove in two and Jackson scored twice. Junior shortstop Ben Meier walked twice and scored three times.
Beechwood scored eight in the first then four in the second to go up 12-0. The Tigers finished the game with three in the bottom of the third.
NewCath downed the Holy Cross Indians (2-7) in five innings. The Thoroughbreds scored nine runs in the top of the fifth to finish off the Indians.
NewCath outhit Holy Cross, 11-1 and took advantage of four Indians errors. The Thoroughbreds had none.
NewCath saw three players record multi-hit games. Junior Garrett Schoulties led the way going 3 for 4 with one RBI and one run scored. Senior first baseman Lance Brockman went 2 for 4 with two triples, three RBI and scored once with sophomore third baseman Connor Seiter going 2 for 3 with two RBI and two runs scored. Senior second baseman Brennan Seiter scored twice and batted in two with senior right fielder Dominic Drury and junior catcher Cole Fausz scoring two times each.
Senior Joe Iles threw a complete game for NewCath striking out eight. He walked three.
Beechwood had a game scheduled against Newport on Wednesday. It will not be played so the Wildcats can play St. Henry.
Tuesday, April 5 NKY Softball Score:
Beechwood 28, Ludlow 13 (3 innings)
