Northwest lost to Johnson County Monday night in the State Junior (13-14) Baseball Tournament, 18-12

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Clarksville National Little League is hosting the 2012 State Junior (13-14) Baseball Tournament

Little League Baseball Clarksville, TN – Northwest locked horns with Johnson County at the 2012 State Junior (13-14) Baseball Tournament held Monday night, July 23rd at Clarksville National field. Johnson County loaded the bases in the top of the 1st with no outs.

Northwest’s pitcher Cortny Griffin struck out the next batter. Griffin then walked a batter and hit another. He then settled down and struck out the next two. Johnson County got two runs but left the bases loaded.

Logan Sargent was the winning pitcher for Johnson County.

In the bottom of the 1st, Cortny Griffen led Northwest off with a single. Marcus Picquet followed with a single up the middle. Zach Dixon cleared the bases with a double. Johnson County’s pitcher, Logan Sargent was able to strike out the next three batters to end the inning. The game was tied 2-2.

Johnson County loaded the bases again in the top of the 2nd. The next batter walked moving a run home. Griffin gets the next batter to fly out to short. Payton Fenner then hits a single scoring a runner. Justin Pardue hits to short who throws to second for the force out, but the throw to first is not in time and a run scores.

With runners on 1st and 3rd, the runner on first breaks for second. Northwest’s catcher throws to the pitcher catching the third base runner between bases. Pitcher throws to the catcher who starts to run down the runner. The catcher’s throw to third is missed and the runner scores. Griffen walks one and then gets a strikeout to end the inning. Johnson County scored four runs to go up 6-2.

Johnson County was able to load the bases again at the top of the 3rd inning. Cortny Griffin strikes out the next batter. Griffin, with 95 pitches on the night, was then replaced by Austin Fisher. With bases loaded and two out, Johnson County hits one to third but the throw to first is missed and a run scores. Fisher gets the next batter to hit a grounder to short who throws to second for the force out that ends the inning.

Cortny Griffin got things started for Northwest in the bottom of the third with a single up the middle. Marcus Picquet hits one that just gets by the shortstop to put runners at first and third. Zach Dixon walks to load the bases.

The next batter hits to second who throws to first for the out. Griffin scores and runners are at second and third. Austin Fisher hits a sacrifice fly to center that scores Picquet and advances the Dixon to third. Logan Sargent hit the next batter to put runners on the corners. Sargent then struck out the next batter to end the inning. At the end of three, the score was 7-4.

In the top of the forth, the first batter for Johnson County hits a line drive to the second baseman for an out. The next batter strikes out. Fisher walks one but gets the next batter to pop out to short to end the inning.

Payton Vincent lead off the bottom of the fourth for Northwest. He hits a grounder to the second baseman but the throw to first is low and Vincent gets on. The next batter hits to the second baseman who throws to second base for the force out.

Cortny Griffen then hits a triple down the right field line that scores Vincent. Marcus Picquet hits a line drive that bounces off the pitchers leg and rolls between second and third. Picquet gets on and Griffen scores from third. Picquet steals second. Zach Dixon hits one to the second baseman and is thrown out at first but advances Picquet to third. The next batter grounds out to the pitcher. At the end of four, the score was Johnson County 7 and Northwest 6.

Johnson County started the 5th inning with a fly out to center and a strike out. Nick Whitener gets a walk. The next batter singles to left putting runners at first and second. Northwest’s pitcher, Austin Fisher, then hits Justin Pardue to load the bases.

Logan Sargent then rips a double to the center field fence that cleared the bases. Fisher walks the next two batters to load the bases. Samuel Icenhour battles Fisher to a full count and then gets a walk scoring one. Fisher gets the next batter to pop out to first to end the inning. Johnson County now leads 11-6.

In the bottom of the 5th, the first batter for Northwest strikes out. Robert Perry strikes out as well, but the ball hits the ground and rolls past the catcher. Perry is able to beat out the throw to first.

This brought Jalen McClain to the plate who hits a deep double to center field, scoring Perry from first. Dakoda Jones hits the ball right back to the pitcher who throws him out at first. McClain advances to third. The next batter grounds out to the third baseman to end the inning. The score is now 11-7.

Cortny Griffin gets a hit for Northwest. Griffin went 4-5 on the night.

Brandon Vannoy leads off the 6th inning for Johnson County and is hit by the pitcher. Vannoy then steals second and third on the next two pitches. The following pitch goes to the backstop and Vannoy scores. Nick Whitener get a walk. Whitener steals second on the next pitch and advances to third on a wild pitch. Payton Fenner battles to a full count and then gets a walk putting runners at the corners.

Justin Pardue hits a grounder to the second baseman who throws him out at first. McClain scores from third and Whitener moves to second. McClain advances to third on a wild pitch. Fisher gets the batter to pop out to the shortstop for the second out. Jake Bower comes to the plate and rips a single between the third baseman and the shortstop. McClain scores from third. The next batter hits to short who throws to second for the force out. Johnson County now leads 14-7.

In the bottom of the 6th, Cortny Griffin leads off for Northwest and grounds out to second. Johnson County brings in Justin Pardue to relieve pitcher Logan Sargent.

Pardue walks the next batter Marcus Picquet. Zach Dixon then grounds out to second and Picquet moves on to second. On the next pitch, Picquet steals third.

Gavin Vernoever hits a triple to the right field fence scoring Picquet. Austin Fisher rips one deep center to the fence that scores Vernoever. The throw to third is high and Fisher continues on home to score. A strike out and a grounder to the pitcher ends the inning for Northwest. Going into the top of the 7th, the score was Johnson County 14 and Northwest 10.

Johnson County started out the 7th with a single to right center. The runner steals second on the next pitch. Alex Tressler then hits a grounder to the short that takes a bad hop to go over the shortstops head and into the outfield. Tressler is safe at first and the runner scored. On the next two pitches, Tressler steals second and then third.

Brandon Vannoy draws a walk to put runners at the corners. Vannoy leaves early to steal second. The pitcher, Fisher, turns catching him between bases. Fisher throws to second who starts to run down Vannoy. Second throws to first and Tressler on third breaks for home. The first baseman’s throw to the plate is wide and Tressler scores. Vannoy moves to second. Vannoy steals third on the next pitch.

Nick Whitener flys out to center field. The throw to the plate is not in time and Vannoy scores.

Northwest calls time and brings in David Crawford to relieve Austin Fisher.

The next batter grounds out to the pitcher. Justin Pardue draws a walk. Pardue steals second and third on the next two pitches. On the fourth pitch, the catcher pops up quickly and catches Pardue deep off third. The catcher chases him back and the throw to third is missed. Pardue scores on the play.

David Crawford strikes out the next batter to end the inning. Johnson County leads 18-10.

In the top of the 7th, Dakota Jones leads Northwest off with line drive single just over the seond baseman’s head. Jones is able to steal second. The next batter strikes out. Cortny Griffin rips a deep double to left field scoring Jones. The next batter grounds out to second. Griffin moves to third.

Johnson County's Samuel Icenhour steals second base. — Johnson County’s Samuel Icenhour steals second base.

Zach Dixon comes to the plate. On the second pitch, right when the catcher is throwing the ball back to the pitcher, Cortny Griffin takes off from third. Crawford quickly throws the ball back to the catcher, but Griffin slides under the tag to score.

Zach Dixon gets on with a single. Crawford gets the next batter to pop up to short to end the inning and game. The final score was Johnson County 18 and Northwest 12.

Logan Sargent was the winning pitcher for Johnson County. He also had a key double in the 5th that scored three runs. Samuel Icenhour went 2-4, Payton Fenner was 2-4 and Alex Tressler went 2-5 for Johnson County.

Northwest was led by Cortny Griffin who went 4-5 with two singles, a double and a triple. He also had two RBIs. Marcus Picquet was 3-4 and Zach Dixon went 2-4 for Northwest.

“The boys brought their intensity from last night’s into tonights game. We just had a few throwing errors. Logan Sargent came out on the mound and did a really good job for us. We just run out of pitches, which is tough in this league. It’s tough on the pitch count,” stated Matthew Cornett, Johnson County’s head coach. “Justin Pardue came in from second base to pitch for us. He doesn’t pitch very often. He stuck it out and got us a win tonight.”

Cornett said “We came to hit the ball again tonight. We got the bases loaded a few times and were able to hit them in tonight. This was one of our stuggles coming into the first game.”

After building up a five run lead in the 3rd inning, Northwest started chipping away at that lead. “We had to tighten up on defense and communicate more out in the field to stay in the game,” commented Cornett. “We responded with our bats.”

Starting in the 5th inning, Johnson County got more aggressive with their base running stealing several bases. “I started moving the base runners on around. I noticed they were getting alittle weak at holding us on. So I started advancing the runners to get them into scoring position,” stated Cornett. “It also helped that our 5th and 6th positions started hitting well.”

“Northwest played us really tough. Their one and two hitters were really strong,” stated Cornett. “We just came through when we needed it the most. Our boys knew that if they lost they were going home again. We had our backs against the wall and the boys came through.”

Johnson County will play the loser of tonights game between Goodlettsville and Greenville Wednesday, July 25th at 8:00pm.

Clarksville National Little League fields are located at 408 Gaylewood Drive, Clarksville behind Barksdale Elementary School.

For more information on Clarksville National Little League, visit their website at: www.clarksvillenational.org