LONDON — Clay County eighth grader Luke Hillard turned in his best pitching effort of his young career, limiting North Laurel to only two hits, and no earned runs while striking out five batters during the Tigers’ 4-3 win over the Jaguars during Tuesday’s 39th District Tournament championship.
Hillard kept the Jaguars’ batters off-balanced throughout the contest, allowing only seven base runners while also receiving another stellar defensive effort from his teammates.
“Big time win tonight,” Clay County coach Jason Smith said. “Super proud of Luke Hillard and our defensive for holding a really good North Laurel team to three runs. Our bats were quiet tonight but we ran the bases well, and got some key hits with runners in scoring position.”
Clay County (19-11-1) took a short-lived 1-0 lead in the first inning before North Laurel (16-16) struck with two runs in the bottom of the second while taking a 2-1 edge.
The Tigers followed with a run in each of the third, fourth, and fifth innings to reclaim a 4-2 lead before the Jaguars scored their final run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“It was a close game and we couldn’t catch any breaks,” North Laurel coach Darren McWhorter said. “Chase (Keen) started out really well and kind of lost the strike zone in the fifth. We brought in EJ Allen and he got us out of a jam with Crawford at the plate. We just couldn’t get a hit when runners were in scoring position and that cost us, with that said, Clay’s pitcher Luke Hillard threw a complete game and threw well.”
Ethan Jackson led Clay County with a 2-for-3 effort at the plate while finishing with two RBI, and two runs scored. Ryan Hastings had a hit, and a RBI while Talan Marcum delivered a hit, and scored twice. Hayden Crockett finished with a hit, and a run scored while Brandin Crawford scored once, and stole two bases.
J. Douglas Gilliam, and Corey Broughton had North Laurel’s lone hits while Kyler Elza drove in a run and scored once. Broughton, and Walt Hellard also scored in the loss.
Chase Keen took the loss for the Jaguars, allowing three hits, and two earned runs in four innings of work while striking out five batters. EJ Allen pitched the three scoreless innings, scattering two hits while fanning six batters.
