Northern Kentucky high school traditionalists have always found it a tough pill to swallow, a tough change to take. And to be honest, the two schools who anchored the southeast corner of the Ninth Region for so many years – Campbell County and Bishop Brossart – find it tough to take as well.
They belong in Northern Kentucky, no question. And no matter how many years they’ve been gone – gone to the 37th District and the 10th Region – it just doesn’t seem right. The Alexandria schools don’t fit in with Paris and Bourbon County, and especially not way down to Mt. Sterling and Montgomery County.
Sure, things change. And it’s obvious as you head to the 37th District Baseball opening doubleheader at Campbell County’s Tom Moore Field Tuesday, how much they have. Just head out the AA Highway to US 27 at rush hour and you’ll see. It’s like Florence to Union out here. And without an interstate, just the bumper-to-bumper traffic, strip malls, car dealers and shopping centers.
Northern Kentucky simply grew too big, too fast for the rest of Kentucky. Somebody had to go to keep things equal, population-wise. Campbell County and Brossart were the ones to say sayonara even though thanks to I-471, I-275 and the A-A Highway, they’re a whole lot closer than they ever were and yet they’re gone.
The Alexandria schools brought a pair of south Kenton County schools – Scott and Calvary Christian – with them.
Which gets us to where we were Tuesday in a Campbell County vs. Kenton County matchup with the two winners advancing to both the District championship Wednesday here at 6. And then to next week’s 10th Region Tournament at Harrison County.
But as much as things change, some things don’t. Not here. There will always be the Kramers and Versts, the Franzens and Frommeyers, and of course, the Bezolds, on the ball fields of southern Campbell County.
GAME 1: CAMPBELL COUNTY 12, CALVARY CHRISTIAN 0
Not a surprise here. It’s the 21st straight win for the Camels over Calvary since they started playing in 2006. And the sixth straight shutout. But it was more than that. For Campbell County senior pitcher Jake Napier, a Claryville kid at home on the school’s nearly new campus, it was his first high school no-hitter.
“I guess it is,” the 6-foot-1, 245-pounder said of whether the five-inning, run-ruled game that ended two innings early was officially a no-hitter. It ended early on Tyler Fowler’s three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth that got the Camels past the 10-run lead they needed to end this one.
“I was just trying to hit to the opposite field,” Fowler said of his last at-bat that ended the game. “I was just trying to move the runners up . . . to be a good teammate, not an ‘I-guy’.” And then he saw the outfielder turn his back at the 350-foot sign and knew he had a chance for his home run of the season.
“He had a great approach that at-bat,” Campbell County coach Scott Schweitzer said, “he worked it for seven-eight pitches.”
Napier’s no-hit work certainly moved this one on. It took just an hour and 23 minutes from first pitch to last.
“That’s as efficient as I’ve seen Jacob in the five years we’ve had him in our program,” Schweitzer said, noting how he needed just 47 pitches to win this one. Napier got two big defensive plays from third baseman Evan Clark to keep the Cougars hitless.
And had one of those pitches not hit a Calvary batter, he’d have had a perfect game to improve his record to 5-1 for the 19-10 Camels, who improved their region record to 10-1. They did so by scoring 12 runs on just seven hits but with seven bases on balls and a half-dozen stolen bases.
The loss sent Calvary Christian home with a school-record 20 wins (20-12-1) and sends the Camels on to Wednesday’s neighborhood rivalry game after winning the regular-season matchup against Brossart thanks to a walk-off passed ball in a 3-2 Camels’ win.
GAME 2: BISHOP BROSSART 17, SCOTT 2
The run-rule finish in the first game was not really all that much a surprise. But in the second?
“I thought it was going to be a very close game,” said junior Brossart catcher Colin Combs, whose second inning home run highlighted a seven-run second inning that put this one out of reach for a Scott team whose five pitchers in four innings couldn’t get the ball over the plate, giving up eight walks in addition to 11 hits.
Brossart’s five runs in the fourth gave the 17-15-1 Mustangs the 15-run lead they needed to end this one in less than five innings, finishing up fittingly on a pop fly that somehow dropped uncaught in the basepath between first and second. But maybe a merciful ending for a Scott team that finished 8-22.
Hard-throwing junior Evan Moore, who has had the bad luck to give up more unearned runs (19) than earned (18) this season, earned his fourth win against six losses. And his earned run average (2.26 coming into this game) will drop after allowing just one – and that one on a pop fly down the line that probably should have been caught.
The left-handed Moore also got in his licks at the plate with a single and double and three RBI the first two innings.
“I definitely didn’t have my best stuff,” Moore said, “it was one of my worst games. But I was able to battle through it, to keep us close.”
But by the second inning, thanks to Combs & Co., it was no longer close. Nor did it need to be. “I was thinking double,” Colin said of his sixth home run in a season that had him leading Brossart’s hitters with a .392 average coming into the district, ahead of next-in-line Moore’s .374.
As to Wednesday’s championship game, “It’s just another game,” Moore says, that’s how they have to look at it. But as Brossart coach Ron Verst says, “It’s a hometown, cross-town rivalry.” And there is that 3-2 walk-off loss, one of three one-run losses the last two weeks (another to a strong Madison Central team) that had Verst saying “We’ve had some good games, we just haven’t finished.”
And even though both teams move on, one thing is certain. The Northern Kentucky portion of their seasons will end here Wednesday.