LONDON — South Laurel coach Trey Smith felt his team was close to breaking out with their bats during the Cardinals’ 9-2 loss to Madison Central on Thursday.
He was right.
The Cardinals (4-2) snapped a two-game losing skid by defeating crosstown rival, 12-4, while totaling eight hits, and two home runs in the win.
“It was a nice bounce back win for our team,” Smith said. “We had a couple of rough outings in a row. I wasn’t worried, though. I saw in our loss against Madison Central we were getting close when it came to breaking through at the plate. We started slow but came through like I thought we would.”
North Laurel (2-3) scored a run in the first inning behind a run-scoring hit by Cameron Smith. Carter Kelley’s run-scoring in the top of the third inning gave the Jaguars a 2-0 edge.
South Laurel responded in the bottom of the third as Cole Harville connected with a three-run home run to give his team a 3-2 lead.
The Cardinals added two more runs in the fifth inning, but North Laurel responded with two runs in the top of the sixth inning to cut its deficit to 5-4.
Austin Byrd’s three-run home run highlighted a seven-run bottom of the sixth inning as South Kaurel wrapped up the win in the seventh inning.
Waylon Hensley got the win in the mound, pitching six innings while allowing five hits, and one earned run while striking out eight batters.
Tyler Curry pitched a scoreless seventh inning for South Laurel.
“Two big home runs tonight,” Smith said. “Cole Harville hit a big three-run homer and Austin Byrd hit a three-run homer. I’m proud of those two guys.
“I thought we received good pitching efforts, too,” he added. “Both Waylon and Tyler did a good job.”
Harville finished with two hits, four RBI and two runs scored while Byrd had a hit, three RBI, and one run scored. Hensley collected two hits and scored three times while Vincent Sizemore had two RBI.
Kelley led North Laurel with two hits and two RBI while Smith had a hit and an RBI along with J. Douglas Gilliam.
