Stanville, Ky. — Luke Patton homered for the sixth time and Blue Fletcher threw a two hitter as Lawrence Co. ( 25-7 ) shutout Betsy Layne 10-0 in the opening game of the 58th District tournament Monday.
Blue Fletcher looks for the sign from Mason Preston on Monday versus Betsy Layne.
Fletcher went six innings, struck out eight, walked one and allowed two hits. He also had three hits including a double offensively.
Luke Patton trots home after hitting his sixth home run of the season.
Patton finished with three hits, three runs batted in and scored twice, Grover Maynard had two hits including a double and scored once, Nick Collinsworth had two hits and scored once, Will Lafferty doubled, drove in two runs and scored twice, Jake Derifield tripled and scored a run, Abner Collinsworth and Eli Fletcher singled once, Ryan Marcum scored three times.
Nick Collinsworth attempts to bunt against Betsy Layne Monday.
The Bulldogs had 14 hits in the six inning mercy rule victory.
Jordan Frazier doubled and Cameron Pente singled for Betsy Layne ( 4-20 ).
BLHS 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0
LCHS 2 2 0 4 0 2 = 10
The Bulldogs will face Prestonsburg ( 16-12 ) Wednesday night for the 58th District title after the Blackcats defeated Floyd Central 8-1 in the second game Monday night.
Jake Derifield makes a nice play defensively before throwing the runner out.
Lawrence Co. Head Coach Travis Feltner
“ I say it every year that first elimination game might cause the most anxiety and doesn’t matter who you play. Every this week half of the teams in the state will be eliminated and already after Monday a lot of good teams are already gone. We tried to convince our guy to not take anything for granted going into the game and I think they handled it pretty good. We faced a team that we outscored 45-0 in the regular season. Betsy Layne showed up last night and give them a ton of credit. They were competitive and I thought we did the things that we needed to do to get the win.”
“ Blue Fletcher did exactly what we asked him to do and that is why we went with him. I trusted that he would compete and throw strikes and give us a chance to win. He is a senior and he earned those stripes. Luke Patton a big knock but we had several guys with multiple hits. Again I want to credit Betsy Layne because they didn’t help us last night. To score a ton of runs the other team usually has to help out and they didn’t do that. They made all the plays and we lifted a few balls as well. At the end of the day we will take a 10-0 victory and a ticket to the region tournament next week.”
“ Prestonsburg has a good ball club and we will see the Matt Welch who we beat 4-0 on the road and it was 0-0 going to the fifth inning. That night they didn’t help us until he walked a couple in that inning and then we hit a three run double. It will be a challenge for sure and I’m looking forward to it. They can beat anyone in the regional tournament next weekend. We have our work cut out for us but I think our guys will be ready to go.”
