By TIM HYDEN, CJ Sports Writer
Commonwealth Journal
July 19, 2008 09:19 pm
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After wiping out Jessamine County 13-0 in the first round of the Cal Ripken 9-Year Old State Tournament, the Lake Cumberland All-Stars were on a roll. Then, when they jumped out to a five run lead in game 2 against Fern Creek out of Louisville it was easy to imagine that they could be a juggernaut, capable of disposing teams from much larger metropolitan areas, tossing them away like flavorless day old gum.
If you thought that, you should have known better. Unlike overmatched teams from rural towns, the big city teams don’t fade—they just get stronger. And, boy, did Fern Creek ever get stronger—scoring the last twelve runs of the game to come from behind 14-7, leaving Lake Cumberland wondering about the one that got away.
Lake Cumberland jumped on Fern Creek early. A Logan Smith triple, followed by RBI singles from Kross Grundy and Nate Phillips gave the local stars a 3-0 lead right out of the gate. They added three more in the third, the big hit being an RBI double by Trae Harmon.
On the mound, Kross Grundy had a no-hitter thru three innings, but Fern Creek managed two runs from walks, errors, and wild pitches. Lake Cumberland led 7-2 going to the bottom of the fourth.
But, just like in the 10-year old game, but in reverse, three and a half innings does not a six inning game make.
Fern Creek started the road back by scoring twice, thanks to a walk, two errors, and an RBI single from Andrew Engle. And the Lake Cumberland offensive machine that had produced so many runs so far had shifted into neutral, spitting out a random single here and there.
Then came the bottom of the fifth. Then came the Lake Cumberland pitching change. Then came Fern Creek.
Kross Grundy had struggled with his control through the first four innings, but had kept the Fern Creek bats relatively tame. But Nathanael Bell and Jose Herrera were much more to their liking. The two pitchers shared the scars from the ten run bludgeoning that Fern Creek laid on the local stars in the fifth. The inning consisted of a walk, a wild pitch, a hit batsman, three errors, six singles and a double.
In a game that looked like it could be a signature win over a big city team, Lake Cumberland had to hold on in the bottom of the fifth to keep from falling prey to the ten-run mercy rule.
The loss drops Lake Cumberland into the losers’ bracket where they played Saturday at 11 a.m.., hoping to regain the form of their first game and a half of the tournament.
L. C.
Grundy 4IP, 1ER, 4R, 1H, 9K, 6BB
Bell .1 IP, 4ER, 6R, 3H, 0K, 0BB, 1HBP
Herrera .2 IP, 4R, 4H, 0K, 1BB
2B—Harmon
3B—Smith
SB—Bell
RBI—Bell, Grundy, Harmon, Phillips.
F.C.
Nacke 3IP, 4ER, 7R, 6H, 3K, 1BB
Blackburn 3IP, 0ER, 1R, 3H, 6K, 0BB
2B—Dewitt
SB—Dewitt 2, Blackburn, Heckman
RBI—Berger 2, Blake 2, Engel, Zickel, Heckman.
• The local 8-year old All-Stars fell in the second round as well, losing to South Lexington 5-0 after having beaten Garrard County 20-0 in the opening round. The 8-year old tournament had to be reorganized after two teams withdrew after pairings had already been selected for the double elimination tournament. In order to give each team enough games, the tournament was changed to a round robin format. Lake Cumberland (1-1) will now face Johnson County.
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