MANCHESTER — Trey Smith’s South Laurel Cardinals accomplished a feat that hadn’t occurred since 2015 on Monday — defeating Clay County two times in a season.
South Laurel built an 11-0 lead only having to hold off the Tigers, who scored seven runs in the sixth inning, before pulling out a 13-7 victory.
The six-run win also marked the first time since 2017 the Cardinals (18-9) had defeated the Clay County (14-10) in back-to-back games since 2017.
“It’s a good win,” Smith said. “We lost ourselves for a second, but after the win, I told the boys any time you can beat them two times in a year, it’s big. Clay County has a really good team this is a big step for the program.”
South Laurel held a 4-0 lead after three innings of play before using a three-run fifth inning to push its lead to 7-0. The Cardinals added four runs in the top of the sixth inning to grab an 11-0 advantage before the Tigers rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut their deficit to 11-7.
Smith’s squad out the game away with four runs in the top of the seventh.
“I really like my team this year,” Smith said. “We have a lot of different arms and Will (Alsip) gave us a good start tonight. He pitched fantastic tonight. I thought we were opportunistic tonight and good plate discipline tonight, too.”
Alsip pitched 5 2/3 of an inning, allowing three hits and no earned runs while striking out eight batters. Tyler Curry tossed the final 1 1/3 innings while allowing two hits and no earned runs. He struck out two batters.
South Laurel committed six errors, allowing seven unearned runs while the Tigers were credited with four errors and six unearned runs.
Reece Noble led the Cardinals with a 3-for-3 effort at the plate while driving in three runs and scoring twice. Vince Sizemore was 3-for-5 with an RBI while Austin Byrd collected two hits, and scored four times. Waylon Hensley finished with a hit and scored twice while Curry had a hit, an RBI, and a run scored. Kamdin Dewees drove in a run while Alsip finished with an RBI and a run scored. Hunter Bundy had an RBI, and scored once.
Clay County used six pitchers as Tyson Wagers took the loss, throwing 2 1/3 of an inning while allowing four hits and four earned runs.
Brandin Crawford led the Tigers with two hits, two RBI, and a run scored while Talan Marcum had a hit, an RBI, and two runs scored. Aidan Roberts finished with a hit, an RBI, and a run scored while Aiden Wagers had a hit and scored once.
