MCKEE — Jackson County entered Monday’s 49th District Tournament semifinal matchup with North Laurel as underdogs.
But the Generals didn’t seem to mind.
After dropping two games to the Jaguars earlier in the season by two and 11 runs, Jackson County pulled off a stunner, eliminating North Laurel with a 7-2 win on Monday.
“I’ve been doing this long enough to know games like this happen,” North Laurel coach Darren McWhorter said. “We were able to get runners on base just couldn’t get any timely hitting. We left the bases loaded twice and didn’t score and when you have games like that it is hard to get a win. You have to give credit to Jackson County. They did get the timely hits and that was the difference tonight.
“I thought we played well enough defensively but when we did hit balls well it was right at them and they made the plays,” he added. “Hate it ended this way for our two seniors Andrew Cupp and J. Douglas Gilliam.”
The five-run victory marked only the fifth time the Generals have defeated the Jaguars during 29 meetings.
Jackson County will advance to Tuesday’s 49th District title game against No. 1 seed Clay County.
The Generals improved to 12-20 while North Laurel’s season came to an end with an 18-18 mark.
