Late-Game Heroics Lift Cumberland County Past Stone Memorial In District 7-3A Tournament Opener, 4-3

By Michael Lindsay

The Cumberland County Jets were down to their final out in the District 7-3A tournament play-in game at Stone Memorial on Tuesday, but that wasn’t enough to eliminate the Jets as they scored two runs via a mishandled infield pop fly in the top of the seventh inning to defeat the Panthers, 4-3.

“We’re just a bunch of fighters,” said Cumberland County head coach Tyler Thompson. “We started off slow this year, but I told them if they will show up and fight like they have been fighting, we’re going to be successful.”

Stone Memorial entered the seventh inning with a 3-2 advantage and retired the first two batters of the inning, leaving Cumberland County only one out to save their season. Isaiah Shelton and Rylan Burnett were each hit by a pitch followed by a Kaleb Hawn infield single to load the bases for Jake Christopher with two outs. Christopher popped up in the infield, but a mishandled ball allowed two Jet runners to score, giving Cumberland County a 4-3 lead entering the bottom of the seventh inning.

The second Jet run on the mishandled pop fly came with the ball still in the infield, as senior Rylan Burnett scored with nobody covering home plate.

“He’s a senior that saw nobody was covering the plate and end up getting the winning run across the board,” said Thompson. He just went. We want ball players that know what to do, even without being told.”

The Panthers had the tying run at second base before Titus Ostrander struck out the final batter to seal Cumberland County’s 4-3 win to advance in the District 7-3A tournament.

“It would’ve been easy to get down,” said Thompson. “You’re down to your last out against your cross-town rival in an elimination game. But those guys didn’t get down, and we found a way on base to put ourselves in a position to win.”

Cumberland County sophomore Eli Glup earned the victory on the mound as he finished with 9 strikeouts, 5 hits and 4 walks in 6 and 2/3 innings.

“Eli Glup has given us an opportunity every time he’s toed the rubber this year,” said Thompson. “He’s such a bulldog on the mound.”

The Jets will face #1 overall seed Upperman in a three-game series in the semifinal round with game one scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Baxter.

“They’ve ran this district for the last 5 years now,” said Thompson. “We got ourselves a little bit of confidence by splitting with them early in the year, but it was early in the year. We’re both different teams now and we’re going to have to show up.”