This game showed it’s not always the team that starts the strongest leading most of the way, but the team that finishes the strongest that sometimes wins.
The Highlands Bluebirds baseball team (9-7) found itself down 3-0 early. But while the Bluebirds pitching and defense held things down the rest of the way, the Highlands offense chipped away then scored three runs in the top of the seventh to record a 5-3 victory on the road against the Simon Kenton Pioneers (9-5).
“Like (Highlands assistant) Coach (Andy) Raaker said, we had a lot of big hits the other way,” said Jeremy Baioni, Highlands head coach. “When we have that approach, that mindset and we’re hitting it the other way, it opens other things up. That power stays on the ball longer and it helps us with two-strike approaches to keep those strikeouts down. It was a big part of our approach (Saturday) and we did a good job.”
Highlands pounded out 13 hits in 30 at-bats for a .433 clip with three players recording at least two hits. Senior left fielder Ryan DeBurger and junior center fielder Callum McAtee both went 2 for 4 batting in one each and scoring one run each. Senior Brennan Kelsay came off the bench to go 2-for-2 with one double and scored once. McAtee, junior Codie Forman and junior right fielder Zach DeSylva added doubles with senior third baseman JP Donelan belting a solo home run to go with two RBIs.
“That definitely lit a fire under us and that carried over to the second game,” Baioni said. “JP stayed on that pitch and hit to right center. If we start with that energy, we can be a pretty good game and you saw that the second game.”
DeBurger started the rally in the top of the fifth with a single and DeSylva doubled him to right. Donelan then hit a sacrifice fly to right to score him and trim the Simon Kenton lead to 3-1. Kelsay then led off the sixth with a double before junior Luke Schneider and DeBurger recorded consecutive singles with one out to score him trimming the lead to 3-2.
Donelan tied the game in the top of the seventh with his second home run of the season to center to tie the game then Forman doubled and senior Logan Weber ran for him. Then with one out, McAtee singled to left scoring Weber putting Highlands up 4-3. McAtee took second on the throw then scored when Kelsay singled him in to make the final score.
Schneider (2-1) earned the win striking out four and allowing just one hit pitching in the sixth then one out in the seventh before DeBurger got the last two outs for his second save of the year. But junior Drew Barth came into the game in the second inning for junior starter Cam Bottom and pitched through the fifth inning striking out for and walking just one keeping Highlands within distance.
“It was a tough spot,” Barth said. “But I was confident in my coaches and my teammates to call the right pitches and back me up.”
Simon Kenton batted just .227 (5 for 22) overall. Senior first baseman Dakota Brown had a double and junior second baseman Evan Sheridan scored twice to lead the Pioneers.
Junior Logan Cones (2-3) took the tough loss pitching into the seventh inning before junior Nick Veid finished the seventh inning. Cones struck out three and walked one.
“We just put it in cruise control,” said Troy Roberts, Simon Kenton head coach. “We weren’t getting on base. It’s not like we were hitting to get that 3-0 lead. We’d have a few hit batters, some walks then we’d get a timely hit. When they weren’t putting us, we weren’t hitting to get on. You can’t do that against a good Highlands team. They’re well-coached. They play solid fundamental baseball. You have to put your foot on the gas and keep going. We didn’t do that.”
Highlands followed up that win with a five-inning 10-0 run-ruling of the Paintsville Tigers (12-4) from the 15th Region. Hendrix pitched a complete game no-hitter striking out 13 and walked none. The Bluebirds scored eight runs in the bottom of the fifth to force the run-ruling.
“We played a pretty clean game defensively with one error early in the game,” Hendrix said. “I just felt I was able to get a lot out by myself and I knew my defense would pick me up.”
Highlands plays at Covington Catholic (9-4) on Thursday at 5 p.m. Simon Kenton plays host to Cooper (4-13) on Monday at 5 p.m.
Other Baseball Scores
Bishop Brossart 11, Nicholas County 1 (5 innings)
Bracken County 13, Calvary Christian 3 (5 innings)
Bracken County 12, Bishop Brossart 8
Williamsburg (Ohio) 9, Dixie Heights 3
West Jessamine 15, Scott 2
Cooper 5, St. Henry 4
Lewis County 15, Holmes 12
Owen County 9, Holmes 1
Ludlow 4, Gallatin County 2
Beechwood 7, Batesville (Indiana) 2
Bardstown Bethlehem 15, Lloyd Memorial 1
Owen County 9, Holmes 1
Bourbon County 15, Lloyd Memorial 0 (5 innings)
Owen County 15, Villa Madonna 0 (3 innings)
Louisville Trinity 7, Cooper 4
Villa Madonna 8, Lewis County 2
Bardstown Bethlehem 12, Bellevue 4
Ryle 12, George Rogers Clark 7
Paintsville 8, Conner 5
Louisville Trinity 11, Covington Catholic 1 (5 innings)
Campbell County 11, Newport Central Catholic 1 (6 innings)
Newport Central Catholic 1, Lexington Lafayette 0
Williamsburg (Ohio) 17, Holy Cross 3 (5 innings)
Grant County 15, Dayton 0 (4 innings)
Anderson County 4, Walton-Verona 1 (9 innings)
Softball
Highlands wins twice
The Bluebirds (11-4) headed to East Carter for three games over the weekend and came back with two wins. Their Friday game against Greenup County was rained out.
Highlands beat East Carter, 7-0. Freshman Kaitlyn Dixon (4-1) pitched a complete game striking out nine, walking two and allowing six hits.
The Bluebirds batted .281 (9 for 32) in the win. Junior Bailey Markus, sophomore Julia Luhn and junior Michelle Barth had two hits each. Eighth grader Allison Meyers doubled and drove in two with Barth driving in two. Luhn and Dixon scored two runs each.
Highlands also beat Spring Valley (West Virginia), 14-4 in six innings. Senior Kennedy Baioni pitched a complete game striking out 11 and walking two.
The Bluebirds batted .306 (11 for 36) in the game. Dixon went 3 for 4 with three RBI and scored twice. Luhn, senior Carly Cramer and Markus had two hits each. Cramer tripled and scored two runs with Luhn doubling and driving in two. Markus scored twice and Baioni drove in two. Meyers and Barth scored two runs each.
Highlands travels to Holmes (4-5) on Monday for a 5 p.m. game.
Other Softball Scores
Bishop Brossart 10, Paris 9
Bracken County 5, Bishop Brossart 4
Shawnee 18, Newport 1 (3 innings)
Newport Central Catholic 13, Shawnee 6
St. Henry 28, Newport 1 (3 innings)
Newport Central Catholic 17, St. Henry 2 (4 innings)
Dixie Heights 13, Simon Kenton 0 (6 innings)
Male 14, Simon Kenton 5
Male 8, Dixie Heights 1
Simon Kenton 8, Louisville Holy Cross 5
Louisville Holy Cross 12, Dixie Heights 7
Bellevue 23, Villa Madonna 14
Calvary Christian 15, Robertson County 0 (3 innings)
Calvary Christian 16, Augusta 1 (4 innings)
Conner 12, Frederick Douglass 2 (5 innings)
Lloyd Memorial 18, Bellevue 17
Villa Madonna 23, Lloyd Memorial 8 (5 innings)
Holmes 21, Ludlow 1 (4 innings)
Pendleton County 3, Ryle 2
Pendleton County 5, Ryle 4
