Leopards Down South 7-1 to Force 3-Way Tie for 1st

FULL VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Louisville 7, Canton South 1

Riley Groves pitched a complete game while striking out 9 and Mike Kelly drove in three runs to lead the Louisville Leopards to a 7-1 victory at Canton South Thursday evening.  The victory puts Louisville, Canton South, and Alliance (who beat Marlington 9-3 Thursday) tied atop the NBC all with 6-2 records in the conference.

Canton South wasted no time in getting on the board early.  Damon Wade singled home Steve Wilson to put the Wildcats up 1-0 at the end of the first inning.

After that Groves settled down and retired 12 of the next 15 batters he faced.  This included a period in the third and fourth innings where all 6 outs of his outs were strikeouts.  Groves gave up just 7 hits for the entire game and more importantly no runs in his final six innings of work.

Louisville tied the game up when Garrett Yoder singled to center field scoring Jon Crank.  Crank had reached on an infield error, but had two singles in his other at-bats.  The RBI single left the score 1-1 after four innings.

Louisville then took the lead for the first time in the series in the top of the fifth.  Jordan Hughes and Kyle White cracked back-to-back singles to start the frame.  Then Connor Ruffier advanced both runners into scoring position on a sac bunt.  This set the table for Kelly’s two-run line drive single to center that put Louisville on top 3-1.

The Louisville clinic continued into the sixth inning when they added on four more insurance runs.  Yoder walked to start the inning, then Alex Hollifield singled to right.  Two on, nobody out.  The Wildcats then caught a minor break when Hughes popped a bunt backward that was caught by the diving South catcher.

However, White followed with a single to load the bases and Ruffier singled to left to bring home Yoder.  Then Kelly hit a ground ball to the shortstop that could have been a possible inning-ending double play.  But the relay throw ended up in centerfield allowing both Hollifield and White to score on the play.  Ruffier, who had advanced to third on the error, then came home via a sacrifice fly by Jon Crank.  This put Louisville up 7-1 before the inning finally ended.

Louisville then put out Canton South’s threats in both the sixth and seventh innings.  A 6-4 Crank to Pavin Parks groundout ended the South sixth with two runners left aboard.  In the seventh, just as the Wildcats had done the previous night at Louisville, the Leopards got a key double play to all but crush any Canton South hopes to rally.  The untraditional twin killer featured a groundout to first.  Kelly fielded the ball, then tapped the bag,  before throwing down to Crank at second who tagged out the advancing runner.  Groves struck out the last South hitter six pitches later to seal the victory.

Although Louisville only earned a split against Canton South, the remaining schedule favors Louisville.  The Leopards play Carrollton, Marlington, and Salem who are a a combined 10-30 so far this year and make up the bottom three spots in the NBC standings.  Not only do Alliance and Canton South have a tougher schedule remaining, but they will also meet each other in May around tournament time.  The hard-fought 7-1 win for the Leopards leaves them one step closer to their third straight NBC crown.

PICTURES

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Box Score

Team 123-456-7–R-H-E

Louisville 000-124-0–7-9-1

Canton South 100-000-0–1-7-3

Louisville Leopards Varsity Batting

Louisville Leopards Varsity Pitching

Canton South Wildcats Varsity Batting

Canton South Wildcats Varsity Pitching

Records: Louisville 9-4, 6-2; Canton South 10-4, 6-2

NEXT UP: The Leps will next host the Indian Valley Braves in a doubleheader on Saturday, April 21 at 11:00 AM  and 1:00 PM.  JV will play at Indian Valley at the same time and the Freshman Squad will host Dover at 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM.

JV REPORT

Louisville 8, Canton South 5

Michael Lautner went 3-for-3 with 2 doubles and 4 RBIs and Riley Graybeal went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs to lead the JV Leps to an 8-5 victory over Canton South at the Field of Dreams Thursday night.  Graybeal’s two-run single in the bottom of the sixth gave Louisville the lead after the game was previously deadlocked at 5-5.  On the mound, Connor Zwick and Alan Nelson combined for 12 strikeouts and gave up just 1 earned run in seven innings.

JV Box Score

Team 123-456-7–R-H-E

Canton South 001-400-0–5-7-2

Louisville 023-003-X–8-6-1

Canton South Wildcats JV Batting

Canton South Wildcats JV Pitching

Louisville Leopards JV Batting

Louisville Leopards JV Pitching

Records: Louisville 7-6, West Branch 10-4