The All “A” state baseball and softball tournaments take place this weekend at Daviess County High School for baseball and Jack C. Fisher Park in Owensboro for softball.
Beechwood’s baseball and softball teams are in it, as is Walton-Verona’s baseball team.
BASEBALL
Baseball will have all four quarterfinal games played on Saturday with the semifinals and championship on Sunday.
Beechwood plays Jackson County on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. CST. Walton-Verona gets Campbellsville in the final quarterfinal of the day at 5:30 p.m. CST. Campbellsville is ranked No. 21 in the state by Prep Baseball Kentucky in their latest poll.
University Heights Academy out of Hopkinsville is the top ranked team in the field by PBK, ranked No. 7. Owensboro Catholic is their quarterfinal opponent, ranked No. 10. Beechwood (No. 14) and Campbellsville (No. 21) are the other teams that are ranked in the field. The good news for Beechwood is of the other three teams listed, they’re all on the other side of the bracket. The bad news for Walton-Verona is that all three are on their side of the bracket. If they get past Campbellsville on Saturday, they’d play the Owensboro Catholic-UHA winner on Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. CST.
Since the tournament was recorded on the All “A” website in 2004, Beechwood has won the All “A” state title five times in 2006, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019. They were runner-up in 2007 and 2022. Walton-Verona has reached the championship twice and finished runner-up both times in 2021 and 2023.
BEECHWOOD
The Tigers enter as the favorite on paper to get out of the top half of the bracket and make it to Sunday afternoon’s championship game. If they can beat Jackson County, they’d face the Raceland-Lexington Christian winner in Sunday’s semifinals. They enter with a 17-6 record and have won nine of 11 entering the tournament.
It wasn’t all roses to get to this point. An early Saturday in April woke them up. Outscored by a combined score of 23-3 to Elder (Ohio) and St. Xavier out of Louisville on April 4, the Tigers were determined to not be embarrassed like that again.
“We just felt like we didn’t compete,” Tigers coach Kevin Gray said. “Just didn’t play the way we could and we moved some guys around and did some stuff.”
Injuries to the pitching staff also shook things up. They’ve been without the services of Kingston Conover, Kolten Craycraft and Braylen Ferguson for the majority of the season, throwing some guys into the mix whether they were ready or not.
Caleb Arrasmith is the ace while Branton Stiles and Sawyer Carlisle have eaten up some innings. Others like Kayden Sautter, Paul Stephenson and Carter Moore have increased their productivity on the bump as well. In a tournament where they’ll play three games in about a 24-hour span, all hands (or arms) will need to be on deck.
“Pitchers are throwing much better,” Gray said. “Beginning of the year we were feeling things out and we played some dogs. We’ve gotten better on the mound and better offensively.”
Offensively, Tyler Fryman sets the table. The junior leadoff hitter is hitting an astounding .611 and has struck out just once in 72 at-bats. He’s hitting for power when he needs to and is a threat anytime on the basepaths. He has eight home runs on the season and has stolen 19 bases on 19 attempts.
“The ball is like a beach ball coming into him,” Gray said. “He sets the tone. We had a talk last year where we felt like he struck out too much. Just told him he can’t strike out. Struck out once this year and it was recently after 21 games.”
The offense as a whole has hit its stride. They lead the state in runs scored with 224. Over their last 11 games, they’ve scored at least seven runs in nine of them. The Tigers have nine hitters with at least 27 at-bats hitting over .300. Sawyer Carlisle (.463 BA), Caleb Arrasmith (.395), Hudson Edwards (.387) and Brooks Becker (.315) along with Fryman set the tone. While the top of the order has produced a lot, Gray points toward the bottom of the lineup for the success.
“The top five are swinging it so well,” Gray said. “We need the bottom of the lineup to get on base and they’ve been doing it. As you can see in his stats, Tyler is getting opportunities to knock runners in. If we can get to the top with guys on, we’re dangerous. The bottom of the lineup guys know their role, Zach True, Luke Brauch, Gavinn Ollier, Austin Stephenson. Get on base and get the dogs up.”
The Tigers seem to be hitting their stride at the right time as they search for a sixth All “A” state title. They’re battle-tested, finding their groove and headed to Owensboro on a mission.
“We play these top flight teams to play them early and before this and be prepared for it,” Gray said. “You want to see everything before you get there.”
WALTON-VERONA
The Bearcats also enter the tournament on a roll, winners in 10 of their last 11 and a 16-7 record overall.
Bearcats coach Andrew Sien said it was a trip to “the middle of nowhere” when things started to click. Walton-Verona trekked to the Green County Wooden Bat Tournament over Spring Break. They came away with a tournament championship and a win over a top 10 team in the state.
“It was awesome for us,” Sien said. “There’s nothing there, but it was an awesome facility and they had some old school, wooden grandstands. We stayed in a big Air bnb. Had seven or eight bedrooms. Just us and the boys. Hanging out and that trip brought us closer together as a team and we responded really well from it. Those three games on the trip, just mentally getting through it and getting where we are and need to be. Some of those guys grew up and we found our depth on that trip.”
They defeated Christian Educational Consortium, a homeschool out of Louisville and followed it up with one of the most impressive wins in program history, taking down previously unbeaten Bowling Green 3-1 in 10 innings in the semifinals. They followed it up with a 6-1 victory over Logan County in the championship.
It didn’t stop there, winning seven of their last eight. It’s a senior-laden group and the All “A” atmosphere will be nothing new to them. They’ve had their close calls over the last five years. On top of finishing runner-up in 2021 and 2023, the last two years they’ve lost one-run games to the eventual champion. Last year it was a 1-0 loss to Lyon County, the year prior a 3-2, nine inning loss to Owensboro Catholic.
Nine of the 16 listed on the KHSAA roster are seniors.
“They’ve played a lot of baseball,” Sien said. “They’re not new to All “A” state. They know it’s a big stage and the best small schools in the state and some of the best teams in the state. Some real dudes down there. They do a great job down there. It’s a long trip. Awesome atmosphere and we’re excited to go compete.”
The senior class is led by Bronson “Bronny” Corpus.
We’ll get to Corpus’ pitching numbers in a second, which are off the charts, but he’s posed as a real threat at the plate this year too. He’s hitting .345 and leads the team with three home runs and second with 22 RBI. On the mound, lights out. In six starts and 33.1 innings pitched, Corpus has allowed just two earned runs and 15 hits while striking out 53 and walking just two. He’s 4-1 with a 0.42 ERA.
“It’s an enormous improvement from where he’s been at the plate,” Sien said. “He’s playing like the 8th Region Player of the Year. Pitching-wise he works so hard and understands his craft. He’s never complacent and constantly working on his craft and really smart about his recovery and numbers and pitching. He’s grown as a leader, lead by example guy and been a vocal leader as well.”
In order to get to Sunday, they’re most likely going to have to turn to Corpus to beat state-ranked Campbellsville.
“Your heart rate is a lot lower with him on the mound,” Sien said.
If they get to Sunday, they’ll turn to Cole Dryden, William Hurles and Evan Bishop, the three combining to start 16 games and pitch 68.1 innings. The team carries a 2.66 ERA headed into the tournament.
Offensively, they have seven guys hitting over .300, led by Hurles’ .378 average and Kainan Held’s .365. Corpus follows with Dryden, Trevor Bauwens, Miles Lehmkuhl and Logan Bach all productive at the plate. The most promising outcome for Sien in all this? They’ve done it in a variety of ways.
“We’ve beat people in different ways and that doesn’t show up in the box score,” Sien said. “Small ball, squeezing runs in or hitting doubles in the gap or even hitting the long ball. That’s encouraging as a coach to do it both ways.”
With Corpus leading the group into Saturday’s battle and a senior heavy roster, the Bearcats are as dangerous as anyone headed into the weekend. They’ll get to enjoy prom first on Friday night before heading down Saturday morning for their late afternoon game.
“We’re one game at a time. Win the first one and that’s goal No. 1,” Sien said. “Just compete and throw strikes. Bronny will throw game one. It’s his ball, we’re there and want to get to Sunday, can’t win the whole thing unless you win Saturday.”
SOFTBALL
The softball tournament has pool play all day on Saturday with each team guaranteed three games. There’s four pools with four teams in each one, the top two teams from each pool advancing to a single-elimination tournament on Sunday.
Beechwood opens up with Brown out of Louisville on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. CST. They continue pool play with Raceland at noon CST and Hazard at 3:30 p.m. CST.
Sunday’s four quarterfinal games are played at 8:30 a.m. CST, the semifinals follow at 10:30 a.m. CST and the championship played at 12:30 p.m. CST.
Livingston Central is the lone ranked team in the field at No. 11, according to the latest KY Prep Softball poll. They are the two-time defending champions.
Since the tournament was recorded on the All “A” website in 2004, no Northern Kentucky team has reached the championship.
BEECHWOOD
It’s been a streaky season for Beechwood as they currently sit at 7-8 on the season with a home game against Lloyd Memorial on Thursday before they take off to Owensboro on Friday. They opened the season with two losses, then won four in a row, lost four in a row, won three in a row and have lost their last two.
“We don’t really look at it like that,” Lady Tigers coach Chris Scott said. “We’ve played some tough teams, played some powerhouses in Nashville on Spring Break.”
Scoring runs hasn’t been an issue for the Lady Tigers. They’ve scored at least six runs in 11 of their 15 games, but have allowed at least five runs in 10 of 15 games. They’ve got five in the lineup hitting at least .300 led by Brooke Moore with a .523 average. Taryn Frazier isn’t too far behind with a .436 average. Anna Hartridge, Sophia Preston and Claire Gigliotti are also over .300.
“One through six in the lineup we feel really confident,” Scott said. “Cigliotti leads off and Frazier is hitting it with an ironing board. Moore hits third for us and moves players around. Hatridge hits sixth for us and is a second leadoff hitter.”
Annette Cento will get the ball in the circle the first two games, having pitched 74 innings on the season and starting 14 of the 15 contests with a 7-6 record and 5.39 ERA. They’ll then turn to seventh grader Camryn Hartridge for the third game.
Scott likes the team’s mindset headed into the tournament.
“We don’t run out of gas, we’ve got girls that want to be at the park and that’s what’s cool about this team,” Scott said.
With the baseball team also headed down, they’ll try and coordinate travel plans and support each other.
“Coach Gray and I go back to the day we were born and he’s a big reason why I wanted to coach at Beechwood,” Scott said. “They are a big part of what we do. We share the field, they help with equipment. Regardless of what happens Saturday, we’ll stick around Sunday to watch the baseball team.”