The Carlisle County Comets defeated Hickman County 2-1 Thursday night to clinch their sixth straight First District title behind the hot arm of Kase Kelly.
JARED JENSEN | The Sun
Carlisle County senior Kase Kelly put on a pitching clinic Thursday night, striking out 15 batters to lead the Comets to a 2-1 win over Hickman County to claim their sixth straight First District title.
“I’m feeling really great. It was a really fun game and a great way to go out my senior year on my home field,” Kelly said. “I was definitely a little nervous at the start of the game. Obviously we have a big rivalry with Hickman County. We always bring our best baseball when it comes to games against them, so there’s a lot of pressure in these games, but it was a good game and a lot of fun.”
The fun culminated in a walk-off bunt, turned error courtesy of Tae Warren to bring home Camden Rogers for the final 2-1 score in the bottom of the seventh inning.
“That’s just Carlisle County baseball,” Kelly said, thinking back on that final play. “We’ve definitely had some high’s and low’s throughout this season, but that was definitely the pinnacle.”
Throughout the night, the Comets connected for seven hits and took advantage of three free walks, but still left much on the table. Carlisle got on the board first in the bottom of the second inning when a sacrifice fly from Cooper Wright brought home Maylon Hafford, but that’s all the damage they could muster.
Hickman County junior Nyiahez Irons catches a fly ball at center and launches the ball to home plate for a double play to end the sixth inning.
JARED JENSEN | The Sun
Hickman got on the board two innings later when Drew Cunningham hit a ground ball single to center field, bringing home Brec Byassee who started off the inning getting hit by a pitch.
The remainder of the way would be a true defensive rivalry as both teams saw opportunities to score with seven hits from the Comets and eight for the Falcons, but would come up short at the hands of a strikeout, a double play or fly ball to end the innings.
Opposite Kelly, Kobe Yamauchi would do the pitching for the Falcons, delivering five strikeouts with seven hits, two runs and three walks.
The win for the Comets emphasizes the resilience the team has as they bounce back from a four-game slide to head into First Region play with a 12-18 record.
“Compared to the rest of the year, we played competitively tonight,” Kelly said. “We really battled there and we didn’t roll over, which is something we’ve been trying to get out of all year.“
The rivalry throughout the year was split with an extra game added in for All “A” Classic play. The first meeting of the year came in the All “A” Classic when the Falcons got the first laugh with a 2-1 victory. A doubleheader followed on April 30 where the night was split. Hickman grabbed the first game 8-7, but Carlisle avoided the sweep in game two with a 3-1 win.
Following the game, some of the best from the First District were named to the All-District tournament including Fulton County’s Cooper Scott and Preston Smith; Hickman County’s Kobe Yamauchi, Brec Byassee, Witt Carter and Korbin Kimbell; Carlisle County’s Kase Kelly, Myles Fourshee, Tae Warren and Kasen Perez.
JARED JENSEN | The Sun
Both teams now await to see who they will face in the First Region tournament starting Monday at Graves County High School. The draw will take place Saturday morning.
CARLISLE COUNTY 2, HICKMAN COUNTY 1
HCKM 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 1 8 2
CRLS 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 — 2 7 0
TB: CC – M. Hafford 2, J. Gill 1, K. Kelly 1, K. Vela 1, M. Fourshee 1, T. Warren 1; HC – K. Yamauchi 2, W. Carter 2, B. Byassee 1, D. Cunningham 1, K. Kimbell 1, N. Irons
HBP: HC – B. Byassee
SB: CC – M. Hafford, T. Warren
RECORDS: CARLISLE COUNTY (12-18); HICKMAN COUNTY (24-7)