THE WEEKLY CYCLE: Eagles find their wings

May 30—As the final inning of the 15th Region Tournament baseball final unfolded on Saturday night, a few thoughts filtered through Shawn Hall's mind.

One was pondering giving Lawrence County's Will Lafferty the Barry Bonds treatment — intentionally walking him, even with the bases loaded — considering how completely Lafferty had torched Johnson Central in their most recent meeting.

Another was that the Golden Eagles had put together a great run. After all, they'd rallied from being no-hit by Magoffin County in their third-to-last game of the regular season, which they ended an uncharacteristic 12-20, to build a three-run lead in the bottom of the seventh inning of the region final against the presumptive favorite.

But Johnson Central then failed to catch what would have been a game-ending infield popout. That loaded the bases for Lafferty, who had homered twice and driven in seven runs against Johnson Central on May 3.

Had the Golden Eagles' magical postseason come to a premature conclusion?

"I was like, they're just a team of destiny, I guess," Hall said of the Bulldogs. "If it happens, it happens."

It didn't. Johnson Central's Conner Lemaster induced another fly ball in foul territory behind first base, and Gavin Crum put it away over his shoulder to lock up an improbable region championship for the Golden Eagles.

At least, it would seem improbable on paper. and in March, Hall would have agreed.

"At that time of the year, (winning a region final) felt like if you were standing at the South Pole and you had to make it maybe all the way to the North Pole," the veteran coach said, laughing. "It was a world away. But we still had high expectations, even though things weren't going well."

Johnson Central has, after all, as of Saturday played in eight consecutive region tournament title games and won five of them.

And Hall thought the Golden Eagles had found a turning point on May 3 in Louisa, when they built a 10-3 lead over Lawrence County.

"We thought we were pretty good, and they just said, 'No, you're not that good, you're not ready yet; we're gonna come back and beat you,'" Hall said. "That was just a gut-punch, that game was."

Led by Lafferty, the Bulldogs indeed rallied to top Johnson Central, 13-10, on a late night that involved multiple weather delays. and the next day, Magoffin County's Lucas Litteral no-hit the Golden Eagles, 2-0, in Salyersville.

"We're at a low point right there," Hall said. "And then from that point on, we're like, man, we gotta beat that guy just to get into the region.

"It's just so weird. It's a love-hate relationship with this game."

The game seemed to shine a little more on the Golden Eagles once it was win-or-go-home time. They got Magoffin County back in the 57th District Tournament semifinals, with Lemaster throwing a no-no of his own. Johnson Central lost to Paintsville in the district final but bounced back in the region tournament to eliminate host Belfry and Prestonsburg — both games with their share of drama — before topping the Bulldogs.

So the Golden Eagles — nine games under .500 as recently as May 10 — will play in the state tournament on Friday against Campbell County.

"They could've tanked this year a long time ago," Hall said, "called it quits, just threw it away. But now, they kept grinding, they kept coming to work, they kept wanting to play. They never really lost their will to just want to try to get better."

Single—The way Bath County's softball season ended was no one from Owingsville's idea of fun. But what happened after that was one of the more heartwarming moments of the 16th Region Tournament.

The Wildcats' Ashlee Rogers hustled across the diamond from the third-base dugout behind first base. It wasn't to celebrate a game-winning RBI. Rather, it was to comfort a teammate who had sunk to the ground in emotion.

Rae-Leigh Purvis had just grounded into the final out of the region tournament quarterfinals on May 21. Rogers wouldn't leave her alone with her frustration.

"This group is tight," Kenny Williams — Bath County's coach, and Rogers's stepfather — said. "The longer we play — and of course, we controlled some of that — but the longer we go, the more opportunities we get to go out to eat and spend time with each other. This is a fantastic group of kids, and that's what I wanted more than anything was just more time with them, and we didn't get it."

They will next year. The Wildcats figure to return everyone except graduating seniors Mikayla Barkley and Abigail Spencer, who were not regulars but regardless had to miss the final game of their high school career because Bath County had graduation that day.

Double—Aside from the actual region champions, no one maximized their postseason run more than Raceland's softball team. The Rams, who were five games under .500 at the end of the regular season, advanced all the way to the 16th Region Tournament final. They knocked off the region's winningest team at the time — Bath County — and then 26-win East Carter to get to the final.

"I had people reaching out to me saying it was a bad draw, some saying it was a good draw," Rams coach Destiny Goins said after the quarterfinal win. "So I was like, hey, we're just gonna come out and play ball."

And Raceland surely benefitted from the extra field time. Of its 10 starters in the region championship game, only three played in the Rams' final game of 2021.

"We're young, so that gives them hope for now and hope for the future to get that experience," Goins said. "They really need that to be successful."

—Before last week, Boyd County's baseball team had had a say in who reached the state baseball tournament for the last three seasons. Just not the final say.

The Lions played in their fifth consecutive 16th Region Tournament semifinal on Monday. The previous three had all been losses to the eventual region tournament champion.

Boyd County broke the door down with an eight-run fifth inning to eliminate defending champ Raceland, 10-0.

"We talked about, get us there and we'll see what happens," Lions coach Frank Conley said afterward. "And we're here."

Boyd County then took down Rowan County, 2-0, one night later to claim its first region title since 2014.

Triple—Lewis County, the 16th Region Tournament softball champion, will meet the to-be-determined champion of the 10th Region on Friday in Lexington to begin their state tournament.

The 10th Region Tournament resumes today in Mount Sterling with semifinal play — George Rogers Clark-Pendleton County and Harrison County-Bracken County.

The title game is slated for Tuesday, which if completed as scheduled would mean two days between games for the 10th Region champion.

The Lions, meanwhile, will have been idle for eight days before going to John Cropp Stadium.

—The 15th Region, on the other hand, will be one of the last two across the state to begin its softball tournament. The 15th and 11th Region Tournaments are both scheduled to start today.

If the 15th Region Tournament at Belfry is completed when scheduled, its champion will have two days to prepare to meet the Seventh Region Tournament champion on Saturday in Lexington.

The Seventh Region was to have played its semifinals Sunday, matching Male-duPont Manual and Ballard-Assumption. The title game is slated for today.

—Marty Mills didn't even have to admit it. He stated it straight up.

One school of baseball thought is to never admit to thinking past the current game, especially in tournament play.

Raceland's baseball coach didn't bother with that. and why not? The defending region champion Rams didn't drive to Morehead for anything other than another big trophy.

"It's like this: I think anybody who has good programs, they walk into this thing with the idea of trying to win it," Mills said. "And there's only gonna be one team walk out of here happy."

That philosophical divide — focus on winning today's game because without it there is no tomorrow; versus, if you don't win tomorrow, what was the point anyway? — most often manifests itself in how coaches use their pitching.

That didn't impact Raceland much in a run-rule loss to Boyd County in the 16th Region Tournament semifinals because most of the pitchers the Rams might have otherwise used were unavailable anyway due to NFHS pitching rules until the next day after an all-hands-on-deck situation against Fleming County a night earlier.

And besides that, starter Andrew Floyd threw effectively — carrying a perfect game through three frames before the Lions got going in the fourth.

Home Run—Like Raceland's softball team, Ashland also found some benefit from a late-season run.

The Kittens nearly extended it another game — they were five defensive outs from finishing off East Carter in the 16th Region Tournament quarterfinals before the Raiders tied the game and then won it in walk-off fashion in the seventh inning.

Ashland could return its entire lineup that took the field in Licking River. Its only three seniors missed almost all of their final campaign due to injury.

"It's fun to watch this, to see that happen," Kittens coach Scott Ingram said, gesturing back out toward the field of play with both arms, "and still know that we can improve. It stinks because we still don't change our expectations. Our expectation was to be playing Tuesday night (in the final) and winning it, in spite of our record. Because it doesn't matter."

—Elsewhere in the Tri-State, Wheelersburg softball punched its ticket to the OHSAA Division III Final Four by knocking off Portsmouth West, 9-2, in the Region 11 final on Saturday.

And Fairland baseball won its Division III district on Friday, 3-0, over Meigs to advance to the region semifinals (state round of 16). The Dragons have gone 26 innings without allowing a run, according to The Herald-Dispatch.

—Johnson Central's Madelyn Vaughn threw a no-hitter against Martin County in the 57th District Tournament semifinals, a 10-0 Golden Eagles victory. She fanned 10 Cardinals, according to WSIP.

And Lawrence County's Taylor Blevins and Bree Jones combined on a three-inning no-no against Betsy Layne in the 58th District Tournament first round.

—Clark's Pump-N-Shop is the new title sponsor of the KHSAA state baseball and softball tournaments.

The company has roots in northeastern Kentucky, with the first of its 67 convenience stores established in Westwood.

Reach ZACK KLEMME at zklemme@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2658. Follow @zklemmeADI on Twitter.