by Rusty Ellis
The Upperman Bees locked up the regular season District 7-3A title on Monday evening, as they shut out the White County Warriors 11-0 in Baxter.
Sparta put a pair of baserunners on with nobody out to start the game, but a double-play and a pop-up ended the threat before they could take advantage of it. Upperman countered by batting around in the bottom of the first, scoring four runs to take an early lead.
Caden Shanks got a big night at the plate started with an RBI triple to score Justin Fallon, and he and Tyler Jared scored on a Sparta error to make it 3-0. Evan Huddleston drove in the final run of the inning with an RBI single before the Warriors recorded the third out.
After starting pitcher Eli Huddleston struck out the side in the top of the second, the Bees added a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double by Jared, who then scored on an error on the same play to make it 6-0.
Upperman put the finishing touches on the scoring with a five-run third inning, punctuated by a three-run double by Shanks, as the Bees went on to win 11-0 thanks to five shutout innings from Huddleston with eight strikeouts and just two hits allowed.
On the season, Huddleston is now 5-0 and hasn’t allowed a single earned run to this point.
For head coach Wes Shanks, it’s a proud night to be a Bee, as they locked up the top seed for the district tournament that will be hosted in Baxter.
“They’ve put in a lot of hard work and dedication, and our record shows that,” Shanks said. “This was one of our more complete showings, when you look at pitching, defense, hitting…we put it all together in this game.”
It was around this same time a year ago the Bees starting hitting another gear, and everyone is well-aware of how that run finished up. For Shanks, it’s all about confidence for this team and after the non-district schedule they’ve played, they’re feeling really good at this point.
“They’re just building confidence,” Shanks said. “You saw the mental approach at the plate today, they just did so much better. So, I’m really pleased with them, but to win this district, which is a tough district, to get that under our belt just gives us more confidence and we get to host. We’ve got that target on our back from last year, but these boys meeting those expectations.”
And hosting the district tournament means playing in a ballpark the Bees are more familiar with than anyone else. That’s something that Shanks knows could make the difference in the long run for his team.
“We know how comfortable our guys are here, and this is a big ballpark,” Shanks said. “From a coaching perspective, we don’t have to ride a bus anywhere, our guys are more relaxed and when your team is more relaxed, they’re playing their best baseball.”
Upperman will meet the Warriors on Tuesday in Sparta for the second game of the season series.
