By Michael Lindsay
The Cumberland County Jets’ Cinderella run in the District 7-3A tournament wrapped up with the program’s first district tournament championship on Saturday as they won at Livingston Academy, 5-3.
“They have fought their tails off,” said Cumberland County head coach Tyler Thompson. “This senior class came in and was hungry to win after last year. They wanted to end their senior season with something that’s never been done. It brings pride in us and we thank them for letting us be on the ride.”
Cumberland County was a dropped infield fly ball in the top of the seventh inning away from losing in the tournament play-in game on Tuesday at Stone Memorial, but the Jets rallied to win that game 4-3 and sweep their best-of-three semifinal series against #1 seed Upperman to advance to Saturday’s championship at Livingston.
“This is a team of fighters that wanted to extend their season every time we played,” said Cumberland County head coach Tyler Thompson. “I’m so proud of them; it goes back to the grit.
Pitcher Shaeffer Sitton earned his first victory in a Jet uniform on Saturday as he went 6 and 2/3 innings, striking out 3 batters and surrendering 4 hits and 4 walks in the win. Rylan Burnett closed out the win by forcing the final out.
“We knew what Shaeffer transferred over that he was going to be a big-time player,” said Thompson. “His last 2 outings were special, and we knew if we got in this situation we could throw him. Shoutout to him for staying positive, even when it was tough; he battled through it.”
Cumberland County struck first in the top of the first inning as an Eli Glup grounder forced a Wildcat error to score a run, giving the Jets a 1-0 advantage.
Neither team scored in the second through fourth innings, but the Jets broke through again in the top of the fifth inning with two outs. Sitton scored from third on a wild pitch followed by a Glup RBI single and an error by the Wildcats to make the score 4-0 through the top of the fifth.
“We were taking advantage of what they were giving us,” said Thompson. “I told the guys to get on base and let’s make them make mistakes. When we got in runners and scoring position, we banged them in.”
The Jets tacked on a run in the top of the fifth as a Brady Shanks single scored Kaleb Hawn, giving Cumberland County a 5-0 lead going to the bottom of the sixth.
Livingston Academy got on the board in the bottom-half of the frame as Ethan Westmoreland singled to score Rocco Carwile, bringing the Wildcats within striking distance after 6 innings at 5-1.
Livingston threatened again as they forced three consecutive Cumberland County errors and drew a walks in the bottom of the seventh, scoring two runs in the process to make the score 5-3 with the bases loaded.
Burnett shut the door on the Wildcats as he forced a grounder for the final out, securing the first district championship in Cumberland County history.
Up next for the Jets is the Region 4-3A tournament semifinals against District 8-3A runner-up Watertown on Friday at Macon County, time TBD.
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