by Rusty Ellis
GAINESBORO – The annual Alex Cassetty Classic wrapped up action on Saturday, as Jackson County tied Red Boiling Springs 3-3 and Livingston Academy and Macon County each picked up victories to close the tournament.
“We’ve been blessed with great weather these past couple of days,” said JCHS head coach Alex Bray. “It’s a big thing for us here in Jackson County, Alex Cassetty was a heck of a player here…we do this to honor him, it’s a big thing we do here in the Upper Cumberland.”
The Bulldogs of RBS took the first lead of the day in the third inning, as an error and an RBI single off the bat of Brodie Huffines led to a 2-0 lead. Jackson got one of the runs back in the bottom of the inning, as an RBS error scored Jaren Dill to cut the lead down to just 2-1.
Aubrey Link drove in Aiden Link with an RBI groundout, as the Bulldogs pushed the lead back to 3-1 in the top of the fourth. Once again however, Jackson County answered with a two-run bottom-half, as another error and an RBI double from Cooper Kinnard knotted the score at 3-3.
Neither team would score again, as the game ended after the time limit in a 3-3 tie.
RBS followed that up with a tough 7-4 loss at the hands of Monroe County (Ky).
A four-run second inning ultimately proved to be the difference for RBS, as Monroe pushed their lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the inning. The Bulldogs answered with three runs in the top of the third, as an error and two-run single from Aubrey Link got the score within 5-3, but that was as close as they would get in a three-run defeat.
Livingston Academy earned a 2-0 Saturday, as they put up a 3-2 win over Monroe County and a 10-0 shutout of Metcalfe County (Ky).
Dawson Ledbetter earned the win with two solid innings in relief of starter Dylan York, as he tossed two shutout innings of two-hit ball with two walks a four strikeouts.
Drew Goolsby came through with an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning, and the Wildcats took the lead on a fielders choice on Zach Cotterman’s bunt that scored Goolsby.
Carson Parrott then worked around a walk in the top of the fifth to close the 3-2 win out for LA.
The Wildcats then dominated Metcalfe 10-0, as a six-run third inning broke open a 1-0 game.
Ryan Campbell drove home the first run of the inning with an RBI single, and Ethan Hooks and Cotterman each drove in runs to push the lead to 4-0. Parrott came through with the big blow of the game, as his three-run home run broke the game wide open and gave Livingston a 7-0 advantage.
The Wildcats added three more runs in the fourth inning, and Ethan Westmoreland finished off an excellent outing that saw him throw four shutout innings of one-hit ball with a walk and five strikeouts to give Livingston a 10-0 win.
Finally, Macon County closed the day out with a 7-2 victory over Metcalfe, powered by an 11-strikeout performance from Matthew Wheely.
After Metcalfe took an early 1-0 lead, Macon got their bats going in a five-run fourth inning to take a four-run lead. Hayes Polston got the Tigers on the board with an RBI single, and Gage Jones’ RBI single gave Macon a 2-1 lead. Wheely helped himself with an RBI double of his own, and an error and passed ball allowed the final two runs of the inning to score, giving MCHS a 5-1 lead.
Braylon Flowers added a two-run single in the top of the sixth to push the lead to 7-1, and Wheely only allowed one more run in the 7-2 victory.
Wheely closed out a dominant outing with six innings of two-run ball, as he only walked three and struck out 11 total hitters.
It closes out the Alex Cassetty Classic, and for Bray, he hopes that this tournament pushed his team and helped them build some momentum.
“That’s exactly what we want to see out of our guys, that fight,” Bray said. “Getting momentum and playing a complete seven-inning game, pitchers throwing more strikes and hopefully our guys finding some more barrels at the plate. We’ve worked really hard this year, it’s time to get some of that momentum going in our direction.”
