The 33rd District doubleheader at Florence Y’alls Stadium told the tale of four teams at certain crossroads entering the second of six district seed games.
The Conner Cougars and Cooper Jaguars hoped to earn another step toward a potential top seed in the district tournament in a matter of weeks. On the other side, the Boone County Rebels and Ryle Raiders hoped to even their district seed records up at 1-1.
The 33rd District opponents have held consecutive games against each other in consecutive days at opposite sites for four years starting in 2018. It would have been the fifth year if 2020 had not been wiped out as a result of the Coronavirus 2019 pandemic.
When the dust settled, Conner (13-1) came out with the lead for the top seed at 2-0 earning a tough 5-4 win over Boone County (5-7). The Cougars doubled up the Rebels, 10-5 in hits. But they had to overcome four errors to two for Boone County. The Rebels scored three unearned runs to two for the Cougars.
“That is a gritty win right there,” said Brad Arlinghaus, Conner Head Coach. “We pitched okay. We didn’t swing the bats as well as we have. Our defense was not as good as it has been and I did not coach very well at third base. We did a lot of things wrong. But at the end of the day, we did a lot of things right that got us the win.”
Then in the second game, Ryle (7-6) evened things up at 1-1 in district seed play with a 12-8 win over Cooper (3-7). The Raiders doubled up the Jaguars, 12-6 in hits. The teams combined for seven errors with Cooper committing five to two for Ryle. Both teams scored four unearned runs.
“We talked to our kids about wanting to leave week one still controlling our own destiny in this district,” said Joe Aylor, Ryle Head Coach. “Top to bottom, this one of the toughest districts in the state. That’s huge for us right now.”
The games were originally scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. But the second games moved to Thursday because of rain Monday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, Conner shut out Boone County, 8-0 in Florence and Cooper ventured to Ryle recording a 9-5 victory.
“That’s what we just told them in the post-game,” said Wayne Huff, Boone County Head Coach. “We played better than Tuesday. They just need to keep improving.”
Conner won the first game in the final at-bat. Senior pinch hitter Brody Mangold led off the inning with a single and senior third baseman Ethan Hite re-entered the game to run. One out later, junior center fielder Ayden Lohr doubled to left. Hite tried to score. But Boone County threw him out at the plate.
But Conner regrouped quickly. Junior Braiden Stidham walked and senior Gage Testerman recorded an infield single to load the bases. Senior Kaden Early hit a hard grounder in the hole to the left side and beat out the throw to first to score Lohr and win the game for the Cougars. Arlinghaus told Early to pick him up and Arlinghaus said Early told him, “I got you Coach.”
“Literally everyone contributed,” Stidham said. “In the dugout, staying in the game is what’s most important. We’re not going to show the best we have every game. We have to battle. This team is a family. We’re always picking each other up when we make bad plays. That’s just the way it has to be.”
Lohr led Conner at the plate going 3 for 4 with three doubles, two run scored and one RBI. Testerman went 2 for 4 hitting a two-run home run over the wall in left in the first inning for his two RBIs and one run scored. That is Testerman’s third home run this year.
Early also went 2 for 4 with a double and RBI. Stidham added a double for the Cougars.
Junior Jeffrey Vest (3-0) picked up the pitching win for Conner recording two outs in the top of the seventh. He worked out of a bases-loaded jam in that inning. He coaxed senior pitcher/first baseman Tyler Krohman to fly out to senior Cody Crawford in shallow left field then struck out senior center fielder Issac Vest.
Sophomore Rex Richter started the game for Conner. He pitched the first four innings striking out seven, walking four and allowing three hits and just one earned run. Senior Tyler Parsons pitched two-plus innings striking out two to go with one hit and two walks.
“The mentality is to go out there and throw strikes. If (opponents) hit (the baseball), they hit it,” Richter said. “We made some errors. But we came back and battled through it. I missed a couple spots and (the Rebels) definitely did damage on them.”
No one had a multi-hit game for Boone County. But Vest doubled to lead off the top of the first then scored when Conner led a pop up drop on the infield.
Krohman pitched the first four innings for Boone County. He struck out six, walked none and allowed two earned runs and five hits.
Senior Jayden Wilson took the loss for the Rebels pitching the last three innings. He struck out four, walked one and allowed five hits and one earned run.
Up 2-1, Conner added a run in the bottom of the second to go up 3-1. Senior second baseman Blaise Bowman reached on an error with one out and scored when Lohr doubled to left. Lohr tried to score when Stidham flied out to center. But the Rebels cut him down at the plate.
The Rebels tied the game in the top of the fourth at 3-3. With one out, senior designated hitter Jason Williams singled and reaced second when Richter hit senior catcher Tommy Switzer with a pitch. After Richter struck out Boone County senior right fielder Jake Barth, Krohman and Vest drew consecutive walks to score Williams. Switzer then scored on a Conner error.
Boone County took its second lead in the top of the fifth. Wilson reached on an error and senior first baseman/left fielder Justin Huff drew a walk. The two moved up a base when Switzer grounded out for the second out of the inning. Wilson scored on a wild pitch to put the Rebels up 4-3 before Barth grounded out to Hite at third to end the inning.
Conner tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth. Lohr doubled and scored when Stidham reached on a Boone County error.
“We haven’t faced a lot of adversity this year and that is how you have to respond,” Arlinghaus said. “It might not always be the prettiest thing. But at the end of the day, it is a win. They had each others’ backs. They had my back. We’re going to face it again and we have to continue to battle through adversity.”
Both teams have games Friday. Conner plays host to undefeated Beechwood (10-0) at 5 p.m. and Boone County travels to Lexington to face Lafayette (8-5) at 6 p.m.
Ryle scored four times in the top of the third to go up 5-0. The Raiders added another in the top of the fourth to go up 6-0. Cooper cut it to three in the bottom of the fourth. But the game was not over until the Raiders recorded the final out.
Freshman Dylan McIntyre (3-1) earned the win for Ryle. He pitched into the fifth inning striking out seven to go with two walks, four hits and three earned runs. Junior TJ Schira finished the game striking out five to go with three walks, two hits and one earned run.
“(It was about) getting outs and letting my defense do the work,” Schira said. “You have to throw strikes, which I really didn’t do. But we got the win. I think we’ll figure it out.”
Senior shortstop Josh Furtado went 3 for 4 to lead the Raiders scoring one and driving in another. Junior Keegan Flaherty went 2 for 3 with a double, two runs scored, two walks and one RBI. Senior first baseman Brayden Stewart went 2 for 5 with a double, triple, two RBI and two runs scored.
Junior center fielder Landon Sawyer went 2 for 5 in the lead-off spot and scored twice. Schira and senior left fielder Tristan Musson added two RBIs each.
“Being a lead-off hitter is obviously an important role,” Sawyer said. “We all wanted to come out strong. That’s pretty much it.”
Senior Jake Jennings (1-3) took the loss for Cooper. He pitched four innings striking out five to go with six hits, two walks and two earned runs. Senior Justin Delph pitched the last three innings striking out one, walking three and allowing six hits and six earned runs.
Sophomore Mark Nowak led the Jaguars at the plate going 3 for 4 with two runs scored. Nowak had key at-bats in Cooper scoring rallies in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
“He puts the bat on the ball,” Aylor said of Nowak. “He’s a tough out. We were looking the other day. They had 75 percent quality at bats. That’s a very good team over there. They battled. They didn’t go away. They made it a tough one.”
Jennings and junior third baseman James Crowe had doubles for Cooper. Jennings doubled in three in the bottom of the fourth to cut the Ryle lead to 6-3. Junior designated hitter Chase Gartner scored twice.
Schira scored the game’s first round on a passed ball in the top of the second. Stewart tripled home Sawyer and Flaherty in the top of the third then scored on a Cooper error to put Ryle up 4-0. Junior Roman Furuta then scored on a Schira sacrifice fly to center to put Ryle up 5-0. The lead increased to 6-0 in the top of the fourth when senior Tyler Sickmeyer scored on a Cooper error.
The Raiders scored three times in the top of the fifth to go up 9-3. Junior third baseman Jake Wieland scored on an error before Musson singled in Furtado and sophomore designated hitter Tate Cordrey.
But Cooper cut the margin to 9-5 in the bottom of the inning. Sophomore Conner Robinson scored on an error and sophomore Mark Nowak scored on a passed ball.
“We have a lot that we need to clean up,” Aylor said. “This is by no means the best that we’ve played defensively. We don’t want to be playing our best baseball now. We want to save that for May. I think the sky’s the limit for this team.”
The Raiders added two more in the top of the sixth. Flaherty scored on a sacrifice fly and Stewart scored on an error. Junior Jack Keeney scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth to make it 11-6 Ryle.
The Raiders scored their final run in the top of the seventh. Sawyer scored on a Flaherty double.
The Jaguars scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to make the final score. Gatner scored on a passed ball and Crowe scored on a wild pitch.
Cooper travels to Russell (8-4) on Friday for a 5:30 p.m. game. Ryle plays Louisville Trinity on Saturday in Union at 3 p.m.
Baseball:
Covington Catholic 4, Newport Central Catholic 0:
The Colonels (7-6) won their third straight with a 9th Region blanking of the Thoroughbreds (8-3). The game was part of the Cincinnati Reds Futures High School Showcase at Meinken Field in Covington.
Senior Colin Gastright (3-1) pitched a complete game for CovCath striking out two, walking two and allowing just four hits. The Colonels made no errors behind him. This marked the first shutout of the year for the Colonels.
CovCath batted .217 (5 for 23) with one extra-base hit. Junior catcher Jonathan Fitz had it with a double. The Colonels also drew two walks and scored one unearned run off the two NewCath errors. They scored one run in each of the second through fifth innings.
Sophomore Connor Seiter took the loss for NewCath. He struck out one and allowed three hits and two walks. Senior Luke Wiles pitched the last three innings striking out eight and allowing no walks, three hits and one earned run.
CovCath plays host to Conner on Monday at 5 p.m. NewCath plays host to Highlands (9-3) on Monday at 5 p.m.
Beechwood 12, Calvary Christian 1:
The host Tigers (10-0) stayed undefeated with a win over the Cougars (10-5) in their first game since Sunday.
Calvary Christian had a game at Goshen (Ohio) canceled so Cougar Head Coach Jamey Hinkle reached out to Beechwood Head Coach Kevin Gray because Gray sent out an email looking for games after the Tigers had two cancellations because of rain this week. The two played in Fort Mitchell.
The Tigers scored three in the first then added eight in the second to go up 11-0. Beechwood scored every run in the second with two out.
“(Hinkle) has a really nice team,” Gray said. “Most of them were hits (in the second inning). If you score eight runs with two out, you know you’re squaring it up well. (Calvary) made plays. They were very aggressive at the plate. They swung the bats well. I was very impressed with them. We had to go out there and earn it. They didn’t give us anything. It was a great game for us.”
Senior Sam Cottengim (1-0) threw a complete game earning the win for the Tigers. He struck out four, walked one and allowed just two hits and one earned run. Beechwood made no errors behind him.
The Tigers batted an impressive .409 (9 for 22) at the plate as Beechwood saw 18 players record at bats. The Tigers scored five unearned runs off three Cougar errors. Junior catcher Brice Estep led the way going 2 for 3 with a double, triple and three RBI. Senior left fielder Brett Holladay went 2 for 3 with an RBI and two runs scored.
The Tigers had four extra-base hits. Junior center fielder Mitchell Berger doubled with an RBI and run scored and sophomore second baseman Michael Detzel tripled and scored. Junior right fielder Cameron Boyd and sophomore left fielder Shawn Sowder scored twice.
Beechwood senior Jack Briney made one at-bat in the game. He’s been scheduled to pitch three times this year. But all three of those games have been rained out.
“The main thing is staying positive so I don’t get down on myself,” Briney said. “I need to stay focused so I can do what I can to help my team. That’s all I can do. You have to keep looking forward to the next one and stay ready.”
Calvary Christian had on extra-base hit. It came on a senior Joseph Ruwe double.
Both teams play on the road on Friday at 5 p.m. Beechwood travels to Conner and Calvary Christian plays at Newport.
Highlands 8, Bellevue 0:
The Bluebirds (9-3) made it two straight 36th District wins with a road win over the Tigers (4-10).
Junior Jack Hendrix and Eli Hale combined to no-hit the Tigers. Hendrix struck out 14 and walked three in five innings to pick up the win. Hale pitched the last two innings striking out five and walking two. Highlands made one error defensively behind them.
Highlands batted .353 (12 for 34) at the plate sending 18 different hitters to the plate. Junior Nathan Hartle went 2 for 3 with a double, triple, RBI and run scored. Senior Mason Welsch went 2 for 3 with two doubles. Senior Drew Hack also went 2 for 3 with one RBI and one run scored. Senior Camden McAtee and Hendrix added doubles.
“It was definitely not our best game. We had a tough time getting started,” said Jack Schneider, Highlands senior. “Bellevue played well. (The Tigers) definitely made us earn it. You had to put the ball in play and make them make plays. They played pretty well. If we would have started off hot like we did the last couple games, I think it would have been a different story.”
Highlands Head Coach Jeremy Baioni said Bellevue senior pitcher Will Strong kept the Bluebirds off-balance pitching into the fifth inning recording four strikeouts before freshman TJ Sorrell came in and struck out three. The Bluebirds scored three unearned runs off four Tiger errors.
“We hit some balls that were hard, but were outs and we hit some balls not so hard that were hits,” Baioni said. “(Strong) threw multiple off-speed pitches in the strike zone. In the high school level, if you can more than one pitch for a strike then you’ve got a chance. We still played well. We battled (Strong) and all you can ask your kids to do is battle.”
Highlands plays host to Hilliard (Ohio) Darby on Friday at 5 p.m. Bellevue plays host to Paris on Monday at 6 p.m.
Walton-Verona 5, Owen County 4:
The Bearcats (11-3) held on to beat the Rebels (6-6) in the All A 8th Region semifinals at Carroll County leaving the tying run stranded at third in the top of the seventh after the Rebels scored three times.
Senior Nick Allen led Walton-Verona at the plate going 3 for 3 with two doubles, one triple, two RBI and two runs scored. Allen (4-0) also picked up the pitching win striking out 11 in six innings and allowing two hits, one unearned run and walking two. Junior Carter Krohman pitched the seventh.
Walton-Verona earned all five runs on Owen County batting .300 (6 for 20) as a team. The Bearcats drew two walks and committed one error to none for the Rebels. Junior Jimmy Shields added two RBI.
The All A region title game takes place back at Carroll County on Friday. Walton-Verona takes on the host Panthers (6-5) at 6 p.m.
Simon Kenton 8, Collins 5:
The Pioneers (8-5) hit the road and downed the Titans (12-6) in a make-up 8th Region game.
Simon Kenton batted .321 (9 for 28) as a team. Senior shortstop Hunter Parks led the way going 3 for 5 with a double and two runs scored. Senior third baseman Riley Cross went 2 for 3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Sophomore second baseman Daniel Uhl went 2 for 4 with a double and two RBI.
Senior Ethan Breadon pitched a complete game to earn the win. He struck out eight, walked two and allowed one earned run and six hits.
The Pioneers had four errors leading to four Titan runs. Collins had two errors. But Simon Kenton did not score any runs off them.
Simon Kenton travels to Grant County (4-6) on Friday. Game time is 5:30 p.m.
Softball:
Grant County 7, Cooper 5:
Cooper (5-3) grabbed a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third. But Grant County (6-6) scored four times in the top of the fifth and held on for the win.
The top of the Cooper line-up hit Grant County freshman pitcher Brianna Knochelman consistently. But the other six slots managed one hit. It came when junior Emily Schmeltz homered. Schmeltz scored twice.
Cooper batted .259 (7 for 27) against Knochelman. Senior Amber Chaney and sophomore Ava Scott both went 2 for 3 scoring one run each. Senior shortstop Dylan Scott went 2 for 4 with a double, home run and three RBI. Ava Scott added an RBI.
Junior Kendall Blau (3-2) pitched into the seventh inning for Cooper taking the loss before Chaney took over. Blau struck out five.
Cooper takes on undefeated Oldham County (17-0) in Union on Friday. Game time is 6 p.m.
Henry County 2, Highlands 0:
Playing for the first time in 10 days, the Bluebirds (5-9) lost on the road against the Ladycats (9-3).
Highlands had just two hits and three walks against Henry County senior pitcher Grace Adams. They were doubles by senior shortstop Anna Greenwell and sophomore Michelle Barth. Adams struck out 16.
The Ladycats committed no errors to two for the Bluebirds. Henry County scored one unearned run off the Highlands errors.
Junior Kennedy Baioni (3-6) took the loss for Highlands. She pitched the first five innings allowing six hits, striking out three and walking one. Eighth grader Kaitlyn Dixon pitched the sixth striking out one and allowing one hit.
Highlands plays host to Lloyd Memorial (1-4-1) on Friday. Game time is 5 p.m.
Cincinnati (Ohio) Taylor 3, Campbell County 2:
The Camels (4-4) lost a tight one over the river.
The Camels managed just 4 hits in 26 at-bats for a .154 clip. Junior first baseman Emily Nadeau had two of them in three at-bats including a double.
Junior Paige Stewart (4-2) pitched the first three innings before junior Alex Leicht pitched the next three. Stewart struck out three, walked three and allowed three hits and three earned runs. Leicht struck out one, walked two and allowed one hit.
Campbell County travels to Simon Kenton (8-4) on Tuesday. Game time is 5:30 p.m.
Other April 28 NKY Baseball Scores:
Bishop Brossart 16, Holy Cross 3 (5 innings)
Ludlow 18, Holmes 2 (3 innings)
Harrison County 13, Scott 7
Other April 28 NKY Softball Scores:
Walton-Verona 7, Trimble County 1
Bellevue 16, Dayton 14 (8 innings)
Gallatin County 1, Newport 0 (forfeit)
This story has been corrected to identify Dylan McIntyre as a freshman. He was incorrectly identified as a senior in a previous version. LINK nky regrets the error.