As the saying goes, “Defense wins championships.”
For Simon Kenton, that statement is true. The Pioneers stellar fielding helped them
clinch their first 8th Region Championship since 2017, a 5-2 win over Woodford
County on Saturday at the University of Louisville.
Those two runs were the only runs given up by Simon Kenton in the region
tournament, shutting out Shelby County (3-0) and Henry County (11-0) in the prior
rounds.
“They’re just resilient,” Simon Kenton coach Troy Roberts said. “Today Daniel Uhl
didn’t make the play in the sixth, but he came up with a double play in the seventh.
They’ve bought into the next play mentality. Don’t worry about messing up, make
the next play. They live and breath that, and it showed today.”
Uhl made one the most important defensive plays in the tournament.
After committing an error in the sixth inning, he responded with a double play in
the final inning while bases were loaded.
Pitcher Logan Cones took care of his responsibility on the hill. He faced 28 batters in
six innings, striking out three and surrendering only three hits.
“There was a lot of people, a lot of noise and I just tried to block it all out. I stay
focused on my catcher, throw strikes, and let my defense work behind me,” Cones
said. “Been going at it for three years now, trying to get to state. We finally made it
happen and all of our hard work paid off, but we’re not done yet.”
Along with his performance, Cones broke the single-season record at Simon Kenton
in wins.
Offensively the Pioneers had seven hits. Two came from Bailey Rump, both resulting in RBI.
“I’m not playing baseball after high school so it’s important for me to win this and
get to keep playing,” Rump said. “Winning region, playing at state was our goal at
the beginning of this season and we accomplished that.”
Simon Kenton’s offense struck early against a Woodford County defense that had
not allowed a run in their last five games.
Cones struck a groundball that scored Daniel Uhl in the first inning, but the
Yellowjackets were able to even it in the second inning. Jonah Branham hit a triple and Justus Wertzler scored.
The defending runner-up could never find a rhythm on offense, with just five hits.
They wouldn’t score again until the seventh inning when Brandon Bishop made it
home out of a double play.
“Simon Kenton played a really good baseball game,” Woodford County coach Paul
Patterson said. “They put a good swing on it all day and made all the right plays
defensively. We wanted to battle through our mistakes, but I’m still proud of my
team.”
With the game tied at 1-1, the Pioneers poured it on with three runs in the third inning.
It was an error by the Yellowjackets that caused the momentum to go Simon Kenton’s
way. They put up one more run in the fifth inning, on a fielder’s choice.
Along with Cones’ RBI and Rump’s two, Tyler Ruete had a triple and Chad Atchley,
Jake Bockmon and Caleb Uhl all had a hit.
Nolan Asher, Justus Wertzler and Brandon Bishop all had a hit for Woodford County.
Jonah Branham led going 2-for-3 at the plate.
The Yellowjackets, who made the championship the last two seasons, end their year
with a 26-9 record.
Taylor Penn, Ryan Cecil, and Jonah Branham were given all-tournament team
honors.
The Pioneers improve to 27-13 and aren’t done yet.
They will face Russell County at 10 a.m., June 6, in the KHSAA state tournament at
Legends Field in Lexington.
“It’s an awesome group.” Roberts said ‘They’re very special to me. I’ve coached a lot
of these kids since they were nine and ten years old. They’re like family, this is just
all super special.”
PIONEERS 5, YELLOWJACKETS 2
WOODFORD COUNTY — 010-000-1 — 2-5-2
SIMON KENTON — 103-010-x — 5-7-1
3B — (WC) Branham, (SK) Ruete
WP — Cones. LP — Corum.
Records: Woodford County 26-9, Simon Kenton 27-13