GOOD HOPE, Ala. – This year’s County Baseball Tournament officially got underway at Good Hope High School on Friday and three teams played their way into the semifinals on day one. Vinemont outraced Hanceville in a 15-12 shootout, West Point advanced with a 9-3 win over Holly Pond and Good Hope capped the night with a 9-4 win over Cold Springs.
Vinemont 15 – Hanceville 12 (Game One)
RBI doubles from Howell and Ashton Hurst gave Hanceville a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. The Eagles responded in the bottom of the second. Owen McKinney and Josh Rhodes led off the inning with back to back singles and an error allowed Nicolas Jankowski to score and trim the lead to 3-1. Rush Sandlin laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Rhodes and make it a 3-2 game. Tucker Mauter lined an RBI single to right field to tie the game at 3 and Jake Hale knocked an RBI double into center field to give the Eagles a 5-3 lead. Hale scored on a fielder’s choice to stretch the lead to 6-3 going into the third.
Gabe Ognilla scored on a wild pitch to trim the lead to 6-4 in the top of the third and Hunter Weeks drove a 2-run single back up the middle to tie things back up at 6. Vinemont moved back in front 7-6 when Rhodes scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the third and Hale ripped a 2-run single into right field to extend the lead to 9-6 going into the fourth.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Vinemont tacked on another run to make it 10-6 in the bottom of the fifth. RBI singles from Ognilla and Cody Belcher cut the lead to 10-8 in the top of the sixth. Weeks shot a 2-run double into right field to tie things up at 10 and two pitches later, Hurst pulled a 2-run single into left field to give the Bulldogs a 12-10 lead.
The Eagles answered the big inning with one of their own in the bottom of the sixth. Rush Sandlin’s RBI single drove in a pair of runs to tie the game at 12. Hayden Robinson scored on an error one pitch later to put Vinemont in front 13-12 and later in the inning, Rylan McRae plated two more runs with a single to left field to make it a 15-12 game headed to the seventh.
Hanceville was unable to put any more runs on the board in the seventh and the Eagles advanced to the semifinals with a 15-12 win.
Hale (two hits) finished with four RBIs in the win and Sandlin (one hit) and McRae (one hit) each added three RBIs.
Weeks (two hits) and Hurst (two hits) each posted three RBIs in the loss.
West Point 9 – Holly Pond 3 (Game Two)
Sawyer Olinger, Brody Howard and Carson Ryan led off the top of the first with three straight singles to load the bases for Holly Pond and Cole Eubanks was hit by a pitch to give the Broncos a 1-0 lead. Howard scored on a fielder’s choice a few pitches later to make it a 2-0 game. An error allowed West Point to score a pair of runs in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 2 going into the second.
After a scoreless second inning, a Titan Thornton RBI single put the Warriors in front 3-2 in the bottom of the third. Olinger answered with an RBI double in the top of the fourth to the tie things up at 3. Cooper Howard led off the bottom half of the fourth with a solo home run to give West Point a 4-3 lead and later in the inning, back to back to back doubles from Skylar Echols, Boston Freeman and Thornton stretched the Warrior lead to 7-3 going into the fifth.
West Point scored two more runs on an error in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 9-3 game and those were the last runs scored in the contest, securing a semifinal spot for the Warriors.
Thornton posted a pair of hits and RBIs in the win and Freeman (one RBI) finished with three hits. Olinger finished the game with a pair of hits and an RBI for Holly Pond.
Good Hope 9 – Cold Springs 4 (Game Three)
Both teams put a runner on with two outs to start out the game but were unable to crack the scoreboard. Mason Gable hit a two-out single in the top of the second for Cold Springs, but a groundout quickly ended the inning. Nash Landon and Case Naramore hit back-to-back singles with two outs for Good Hope in their half, and Owen Armstrong drew a walk to load the bases. Parker Johnson lined a two-run single to center field to give the Raiders a 2-0 lead.
After a scoreless third inning, Good Hope added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth. Colbi Kilpatrick reached on an error to lead off the inning, and two pitches later, Landon lined an RBI double to center field to make it 3-0. Later that inning, Johnson lined the third pitch he saw into left field for an RBI double, as that extended the Raider lead to 4-0. Carter Rutherford hit a single to lead off the bottom of the fifth for Good Hope. He stole second and moved up to third on an error and would later score on a ground ball by Carter Naramore to stretch their lead to 5-0.
Cold Springs made things really interesting in the top of the sixth. Ayden Black hit a double to lead off the inning, but he got forced out at third on a ground ball by Cooper Johnson. Another fielder’s choice moved Johnson up to second, and a few pitches later, Lindan Hill lined an RBI single to left field to cut it to 5-1. Hill scored on an error two pitches later to make it 5-2. A single by Gable put runners on first and second with two outs, and Elijah Cole hit a huge two-run double to left field to trim the deficit to 5-4.
Armstrong hit a one-out double in the Raider half of the sixth and would score a few pitches later on an RBI single by Johnson to put Good Hope ahead, 6-4. An error put runners on the corners with one out, and Rutherford’s two-run triple to right field made it 8-4. Later that inning, Caden Drake hit an RBI single to make it 9-4. Carter Naramore came in the seventh inning, and he struck out the side to help seal the 9-4 win for the Raiders.
Johnson finished with three hits and four RBIs for Good Hope. Rutherford went three-for-three with a pair of RBIs, while Landon (two hits), Caden Drake (one hit), and Naramore all drove in a run in the game. The duo of Case and Carter Naramore gave up six hits and one earned run, walked one, and struck out 11. For Cold Springs, Cole (two RBIs) and Hill (one RBI) each finished with a hit in the game.
Fairview will face Vinemont at 11 a.m. Saturday and Good Hope will take on West Point at 1 p.m.
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