Third time’s a charm: Tigers knock off Cards in All ‘A’ semis

In a  game that was supposed to be played twice last week, but got rained out, the third time was the charm finally. 

The Paintsville Tigers and the Martin County Cardinals duked it out in a wild and close game that needed extra innings to decide it. In  their third attempt to play the game, the Tigers defeated the Cardinals 5-4 in nine innings Monday evening at Betsy Layne High School  in the semifinal round of the 15th Region All “A” Classic. 

Martin County got the scoring started first in the top of the first inning after drawing back-to-back walks and then an RBI single by The Cardinals’ Ryans Stephens put the Cardinals up 1-0.

After getting nothing in the bottom of the first, Paintsville was able to get on the board in the bottom of the second inning as the Tigers’ Luke Stratton was able to hit a two out RBI single to tie the game at 1-1 after two innings of play.

The Tigers were looking to strike again in the bottom of the third inning and they did so after getting runners on second and third a balk by Martin County allowed the Tigers to take the lead at 2-1 after three innings of play.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Paintsville once again was looking to increase its lead and was able to do so after a two out walk and another balk by the Cardinals pitching allowed the Tigers to go up 4-1 after back-to-back RBI singles by Tigers’ Brock Horne and Peyton Adams.

In the top of the fifth inning, Martin County cut into the Paintsville lead making it 4-2 on an RBI single by the Cardinals’ Domain Cheek.

After Paintsville didn’t get anything done in the bottom of the fifth, the wheels were looking to come off for the Tigers in the top of the sixth inning after a couple errors and walk by the Tigers pitching loaded the bases for the Cards and the Cards to advantage to eventually tie the game back up at 4-4 after two more consecutive walks by Paintsville’s pitching.

After Paintsville loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Tigers weren’t able to take advantage and let the Cardinals escape with no damage done and headed to the final inning still tied at 4-4.

After shutting down Martin County in the top half of the seventh inning, the Tigers once again got the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning, but again let the Cards off the hook and couldn’t take advantage and win the game. Instead it was still tied at 4-4 so they needed extra innings to decide this one.

As neither team wasn’t able to get anything done in the eighth inning. They moved on to the ninth inning of this doozy of a game and now it was gonna be who would make the last mistake first.

As Paintsville shut down Martin County in the top half of the ninth inning, the mistake came from Martin County after allowing three consecutive walks to Paintsville to load the bases, the Tigers took advantage of it on a one out RBI single by the Tigers’ Brock Horne and Paintsville escaped with 5-4 win in nine innings and moved on the championship game of the 15th Region All”A” Classic against the Pikeville Panthers.

Paintsville’s Dixon Kincheloe picked up the win going one and 2/3 innings giving up no runs on no hits with one walk and five strikeouts.

Horne was three of six with two RBIs and one run scored for Paintsville. Peyton Adams was two of four at the plate with one RBI and one run scored, while striking out once for the Tigers.

Martin County’s Chase Stacy took the loss going three and 1/3 innings giving up one run on two hits, while walking five and striking out five. Martin County’s Damain Cheek was one of one at  the plate with two RBIs, while walking four times.

The Tigers were scheduled to square off with Pikeville last night at Betsy Layne in the 15th Region All “A” Classic championship.

With the win, Paintsville improved to 10-6 on the season. Next up for Paintsville is at home Wednesday April 17 at 6:00pm against longtime cross town rival Johnson Central. Then the Tigers are scheduled to compete Friday April 19 and Saturday April 20 in the Doc Morris Invitational at various sites.

With the loss, Martin County fell to 8-2 on the season. Next up for Martin County is back-to-back district games on Wednesday April 17 at home then Thursday April 18 away against Magoffin County both games are set to begin at 6:00pm