State 3-peat alive for CAK; Webb drops 2 at home
KNOXVILLE — Webb School of Knoxville junior baseball player Mason Patel has grown tired of watching other teams celebrate on the Spartans’ home field.
“This sucks. For the second straight year, we’ve had to watch somebody else celebrate on our field,” said Patel, while Clarksville Academy (27-13) was jubilant after notching an 8-2 victory over the Spartans (18-10) in the Division II-A State VIII playoffs Thursday, May 16. “But we had a great year. Nobody expected us to get here.
“If you saw us early in the year, the other coaches had to think that we didn’t have anything. They had to think that we weren’t going anywhere,” he added.
Clarksville Academy claimed a 1-0 victory in game one Thursday in this best-of-three series.
CAK sweeps, looks to 3-peat
Christian Academy of Knoxville punched its ticket to Murfreesboro with a sweep of Friendship Christian School in Lebanon.
Led by head coach Tommy Pharr, CAK is looking for its third consecutive state crown: Division II-A state champs last year, the Warriors claimed the Division I Class AA championship in 2017.
The Warriors earned the right to play for a third straight championship when they nabbed a 2-0 victory at FCS Thursday, May 16.
Hunter Loyd hurled a one-hit shutout. He walked two and had seven strikeouts.
Andrew Kribbs and Cole Campbell each drove in runs in the bottom of the sixth for CAK.
The Warriors won the first game 4-3, as Jacob Tate threw a complete game and had two hits. He drove in the winning run in the top of the sixth inning.
Webb swept, but region No. 1
The Spartans did have enough to finish ahead of defending state champ CAK and win a second consecutive East Regional title.
But for the second straight year, the Spartans lost the best-of-three series with a trip to Murfreesboro and the Spring Fling on the line.
Last year, Webb lost to Tipton-Rosemark, which played the Warriors for the state championship.
In game one May 16, Webb and Clarksville Academy went eightplus scoreless innings — with the Cougars’ winning run crossing the plate in the ninth inning on a defensive miscue by the Spartans.
Webb lost despite a stellar pitching performance by senior and Johns Hopkins University signee Peter Shaefer, who struck out 14 Cougars in a complete game effort.
In Game 2, the Spartans opened a 1-0 lead in the second and led 2-1 heading into the bottom of the bottom of the sixth before things came unraveled.
Clarksville Academy’s Isaac German opened the frame with a double and Weston Bell followed with an infield single before Patel got Ty Teasley to ground out. But a two-run double by Ty Turner gave the Cougars a 3-2 lead.
Clarksville Academy would go on to score four more runs in the frame with the help a wild pitch and an error. Both those mistakes led to runs for the Cougars.
Bryce Robinson also had an RBI double and Nolan Oshoney blasted a two-run homer in the inning to make the score 8-2.
Clarksville Academy coach Jake Peterson was pleased with his team’s effort during a long day at the diamond.
“When you come into a state tournament setting like this, getting the first game is huge,” he said. “We came in here after traveling all day and both pitchers were great in that first game.
“It was 0-0 going into the ninth inning and you never see that in high school baseball.
“Both pitchers pitched the ball very well. “Our kids hung in there and they made plays.”
Webb coach Jordan Wormsley was obviously disappointed. But he certainly didn’t fault his team’s effort.
“I hate these kinds of talks but I’m proud of my kids,” he said. “They’ve battled hard all year.
“Nobody expected us to beat CAK and win the region championship. But today, we made some uncharacteristic mistakes. We made mistakes in the first game and we continued to make those mistakes in the second game. But I have to give credit to those guys for executing.”
After dropping the first game, the Spartans took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning.
Riley George drew a leadoff walk and Blake Wooten singled. George came home with the game’s first run on a wild pitch.
The Cougars answered in the bottom of the frame before Webb took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth when Julian Mays scored on another wild pitch.
