Raceland earns All 'A' title

By MELINDA ROBINSON
The Independent

Raceland Fri, May 16 2008

— Raceland made big plays when it needed to and pounded out 10 hits in a 9-3 win over visiting Bath County, claiming the 16th Region All “A” Classic title on Wednesday night.
Raceland was led by a strong pitching performance from Shawn Reynolds. He went the distance and gave up three earned runs off four hits and struck out six without walking a batter.
“Shawn’s a bulldog-type guy and had good stuff today,” Raceland coach Randy Vanderhoof said. “He hung with his teammates out there and didn’t feel like he had to strike everybody out because he had confidence they were going to make a play.”
The Rams scored a run in the top of the first and held the slim lead throughout a three-inning defensive battle. In the top of the fourth, Raceland batted around and put a little distance between itself and the defending All “A” regional champs.
Josh Reed doubled in Austin Blankenship, a courtesy runner for pitcher Shawn Reynolds. Leadoff hitter Peyton Martin followed with a two-run double and later scored on John Scott Carver’s single for a 5-0 lead.
Bath County trailed 6-1 going into the bottom of the sixth but the momentum shifted in the Wildcats’ favor. Coty Conway sent a two-out triple deep to left to plate Josh Terry. Caleb Baber, a courtesy runner for Conway, scored on a wild pitch. Aaron Boyd reached on an error but was caught trying to steal third to end the inning.
“When we got back to 6-3, I thought the momentum changed and if we could’ve held them in that seventh inning, I really liked our chances,” Bath County coach Roy Wright said.
In the top of the seventh, Martin chopped a two-out single up the middle and Carver followed with an RBI double. Josh Wilson tripled to deep center, scoring Carver. Daniel Jones drove in Wilson with a single for the 9-3 lead.
“Bath had a lot of life there in the sixth but our kids came back and clutched up there in the seventh for us to give us a little insurance,” Vanderhoof said.
Martin led the offense with a 3-for-4, two RBI performance and reached base on all five plate appearances. Dillon Keeton drove in a run and went 2-for-3. Carver was 2-for-4 with two RBI.
“Peyton, Dillon and our other seniors really wanted this thing,” Vanderhoof said. “Peyton, as you could tell, was really focused at the plate today.”
The Wildcat defense held up throughout much of the game and stranded 11 Raceland runners.
“We pitched out of a lot of jams,” Wright said. “This game could have been over in a couple of innings but our defense was solid. We just never seemed to get the big two-out hit.”
Bath County slipped to 5-2 on the year. Raceland improved to 4-7 and will travel to 15th Region winner Paintsville for a sectional game, which is set for Tuesday.

RACELAND 100 401 3 — 9 10 3
BATH CO. 000 012 0 — 3 4 1
Reynolds and Jones; Staton, Wright (5), Terry (6) and Conway. W — Reynolds, L — Staton. 2B: Martin (R), Carver (R), Reed (R). 3B: Conway (B), Martin (R), Wilson (R).

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