TUESDAY'S DIAMONDS

After the drenching we got yesterday, its amazing that the baseball and softball teams were able to play.  The girls traveled to Clements for a varsity and middle school combo.  The boys hosted East Lawrence in a varsity/JV matchup.  

Softball
*Varsity lost in a close one, 4-3.
*JV won decisively, 9-0.  Emeril Hand was the winning pitcher with a no-hitter.

Baseball 
*Varsity
Taking an extra inning, Red Devils edged out the East Lawrence Eagles in a pitchers, duel, March 28.  The Red Devils were out early in the morning trying to get the field dried out after the storms Monday night. 

After a lot of hard work, they were able to host the East Lawrence. In a pitchers' duel, the rally caps came out at the end of the game.




Elkmont was down 2-0 going into bottom of the seventh, bases loaded and 2 outs.  East Lawrence pulled D. Hill of the mound who had had a fantastic  game. Hunter Pitman hit the ball scoring 2 RBIs to tie the score.  The Red Devils had a player on first  who got caught in pickle and called out. However, Elkmont had already taken advantage and scored the second run before that third out, tying the score, 2-2. 

 
In the bottom of eighth,  Bryce Tyler was hit by a pitch, Brady hit to right field and moved Bryce over to third.  The Eagles walked Jackson Cook intentionally to load bases with no outs.. Patrick Jobman came up to the plate and the pitcher balked.. walking the winning run in. 

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	R	H
EAST  LAWRENCE	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	8
ELKMONT	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	3	4

Elkmont's Brett Parker and East Lawrence's Hill went back and forth for five innings.  Hill had nine strikeouts and fifteen first pitch strikes.  Parker had 3 strikes and 11 first pitch strikes. 

He pitched five innings before Jackson Cook came in to relief him.  Cook finished up the game for the win (pitching 3 innings) with two strikeouts and eight first pitch strikes for the win.

Hunter Pitman had the hottest Elkmont bat with two out of the four team hits and two RBIs. Patrick Jobman collected one walk.

*JV lost 9-7 

Elkmont Middle School fend off Clements's late push, hold on 7-5

The Red Devils took the lead in a first inning rally that saw three runs cross the plate on a two-run single by Sean Jordan.

Elkmont tacked on another three runs in the second. A clutch error scored Logan Griffin to open the scoring in the frame. That was followed up by Clay Hunt's single, scoring Hunter Pitman and Phillip. They put up one more run in the top of the fourth when Jim Dawson stole home.
  
Clements scored on an RBI single by R. Kirk and an RBI single by T. Henry in the third inning, an RBI single by M. Hamilton in the fourth inning, and an RBI single by C. Wales and an RBI single by A. Bates in the fifth inning. However those five runs weren't enough and Clements couldn't climb out of the 6 run hole it had dug for itself by the top of the third.  Final score: Elkmont 7, Clements 5.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
ELKM	3	3	0	1	0	0		7	8	1
CLEM	0	0	2	1	2			5	8	2

 

Game Stats:
Sean Jordan racked up two RBIs on one hit for Elkmont Middle School. He singled in the first inning.

Phillip Norman got it done on the mound on the way to the win. He allowed one run over two innings. Phillip struck out five, walked one and gave up two hits.

I. Evans was charged with the loss. He allowed six runs in two innings, walked two and struck out five.



Elkmont will be on the field again today as West Limestone travels to the Hilltop for a double header, starting at 4:30 pm.

ELKMONT JV GIRLS ON THE WINNING TRACK

The Elkmont JV Lady Devils softball team hosted a game vs the Ardmore Lady Tigers.  In a cool but clear day, Elkmont won the first game, 3 - 1.  They then added another win at the Clements Lady Colts' expense, 6 - 1. Hoping to get a post by a JV softball reporter later this week.  In the meanwhile, some great pictures of both teams from Down Home Portraits. 

 
The JV team plays next at East Limestone on March 4.

ELKMONT VS CLEMENTS MIDDLE SCHOOL - APRIL 10

Elkmont Middle School Lady Devils hosted the Clements Colts last week.  Great pictures for both teams.  If you would like to order some, contact Robby Newport of Down Home Portraits.

Link to game photos: Elkmont vs Clements

ELKMONT BASEBALL - MARCH 7

Varsity:

Decatur Heritage 14, Elkmont 0: 
The Elkmont varsity baseball team was stung by the 
Decatur Heritage Eagles.   Zach Armstrong struck out five while giving up three hits in the complete-game win at Elkmont (3-3).

Elkmont's next game will be a double header tomorrow @ Athens Bible School - 1 :30 pm.  It will be beautiful weather for baseball, so enjoy

JV: 
Elkmont vs Decatur Heritage; no report yet

Middle School:
The Red Devils went down to Clements and they had two games to steal.  They won both - hoping to get stats and scores later this week.  Their next appearance will be at Ardmore in a double header, March 15 @ 4:30 pm 

RED DEVILS DROP FIRST GAME IN WEST MORGAN SERIES

The Elkmont Varsity Red Devils' series against the Area 15 leader, the West Morgan Rebels, started today at the Hilltop.  Unless the Danville Hawks were able to upset the Clements Colts, Elkmont needed to split with the Rebels to secure a playoff spot.  The Red Devils had nine hits including a home run by Michael Haney to score ten runs.  However, the West Morgan Rebels were able to take advantage of errors, hit batters, walks and eleven hits to turn a solid offensive performance into a win, 15 - 10.  It looked like Elkmont would be going to West Morgan tomorrow with their backs against the wall as they tried to get that prized win to send them to the playoffs.  Sometimes, the baseball fates smile and they did today as Danville upset Clements 3 -1, giving the Red Devils something special -  sharing the football and men's basketball teams success by getting to the playoffs.

Area 15 Standing:

West Morgan    5 - 0

Elkmont            3 - 2

Clements           1 - 4

Danville            1 - 4

Today's game summary:

Lineup:

Pitcher       -  Jared Bailey

Catcher      -  Skyler Gant

1st Base     -  Daniel Logan

2nd Base    -  Jacob Blenkinsopp

Short Stop  -  Ben Ferguson

3rd Base     -  Rhett Bailey

Left Field   -  Justin Kesler

Center        -  Cole Glass

Right Field -  Michael Haney

WEST MORGAN	2	1	6	1	0	5	0
ELKMONT	2	0	4	0	3	1	0

Jared Bailey: 

starting pitcher; 2 and 2/3 innings; 4 walks, 6 hits, 1 hit batter, 2 strikeouts, 9 runs scored

Skyler Gant:  

middle relief; 3 and 1/3 innings; 4 walks, 5 hits, 3 hit batters, four strikeouts, 6 runs scored

* West Morgan batters seem to be almost standing on the plate

Daniel Logan:

finished game, pitched 1 inning, 2 strikeouts, 0 runs scored

GLASS	1B *		W*	W		W*
FERGUSON	1B *		1B*	F8		W
J. BAILEY	F7 RBI		5 - 3	K		K
GANT	K		1B* RBI		W*	K
LOGAN	E8 RBI		2B* RBI		1B*	1B RBI
WALES DH	5-3		F8* RBI		5-3	OUT   ?
KESLER		K	F8		E9		5-3
HANEY		K		1B	HR* 3RBI		5-3
BLENKINSOPP		F9		FC	1-3		K

* SCORED RUN

The Elkmont Red Devils will be traveling to West Morgan, April 3 for the second game of the series @ 4:30 pm (possible double header).  It may rain (isolated storms and showers in forecast) so bring rain gear.

ELKMONT VARSITY SWEEPS DANVILLE

The Elkmont Red Devils beat the Danville Hawks 9 - 8 in the second game of the Area series.  The West Morgan Rebels took out the Clements Colts in two games as well in their series.  If the Hill Spirit understands how the Area standings are calculated,  the Area 15 falls out like this:


West Morgan    4 - 0
Elkmont             3 - 1
Clements          1 - 3 
Danville             0 - 4

• Clements hold tiebreaker win if Elkmont and Clements are tied at the end of Area play

West Morgan and the Elkmont play their series next Monday and Tuesday.  Clements and Danville will play their series next week as well.  


If Elkmont sweeps West Morgan, the Red Devils will win the area. If Elkmont wins one game, they will come in second.  
If West Morgan wins both games against Elkmont and Clements wins both games against Danville, Clements will come in second place and the Red Devils will miss the state playoffs this year.


Look for article on today's and Monday's games tomorrow.

ELKMONT LOSES TWO GAMES IN AREA PLAY

The Elkmont Red Devils played the second part of the Area Series against the Clements Colts, March 20.  Winning the previous day's game put them ahead 1 - 0; optimism was high in the Elkmont dugout.  If they beat the Colts, the Devils would be tied for first in  area play with the West Morgan Rebels.  


The game started out promising as Elkmont took a two run lead.  The Red Devils' bats were on fire and got five hits out of the first five batters.  Cole Glass got a single but got picked off trying to steal second; Ben Ferguson and Jared Bailey followed the setback with singles.  Skyler Gant's double and Daniel Logan's single scored both runners.  Unfortunately, Gant and Logan were left on base as the next batter struck out and the last batter hit a fly to center to end Elkmont's run.  Jared Bailey took the mound and quickly retired the Clement side with only one hit and no runs scored.


The Clements' pitcher recovered from the first inning and the Red Devils only got two hits in the next five innings.  However, Bailey held the Colts to one run for five innings and led 2 -1 as the Red Devils had only one error going into the bottom of the sixth inning.  The Clements' first batter got a double and the Colts were able to take advantage of a number of bunts to put runners on.  The Devils couldn't make plays and by the time the Red Devils got the third out, they found themselves down 4 - 2.  


Jacob Blenkinsopp started off the seventh inning with a single and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Cole Glass.  Blenkinsopp was able to score, pulling the Devils within one of the Colts but a well hit ball that went deep into center was caught ending the game with one runner left on base.  The Red Devils let this game slip away, 4 - 3.  Jared Bailey pitched a complete game for the loss.  Elkmont had 1 error, batted 31 times; struck out 8 times; got 7 hits and left 6 runners on.


A tiebreaker game followed the disappointing loss.  The Red Devils had loss their focus and lost this game 8 - 4.   They went scoreless in the first inning as Clements, excited over their earlier win, quickly put three runs on the scoreboard.  Elkmont left batter after batter on base, not scoring as the Colts added a run in the third and four runs in the fourth inning.   Michael Haney shut them down in the fifth and sixth innings. The Red Devils tried to rally in the fifth inning led by a home run by Ben Ferguson.  Gant hit a single, followed by a Logan double.  Tyler Thomas hit a double to score both runners and stood on second with one out.  Again, the Red Devil attempt to get back in the game was stopped by back to back outs that left two runners on.  At the bottom of the fifth, it was 8 - 3, Clements.  Elkmont added another run in the sixth inning but it was too little, too late and the Colts took the tiebreaker.


Starting Pitcher:  Bryant Wales, pitched 2 innings, 1 out in the third (2 1/3)
Tyler Thomas, pitched the fourth inning and 2 outs in the fifth (1 2/3)
Michael Haney, pitched 1 out in the fifth and the sixth inning (1 1/3)


Elkmont had 5 errors (4 in the 4th inning), 8 hits, batted 35 times, and left 11 runners on.  Tyler Thomas was tagged with the loss.


Very disappointing series but the Elkmont Red Devils can still make the playoffs if they beat the Danville Hawks and West Morgan Rebels in the next few weeks.  If either Danville or West Morgan can beat Clements that will also help but the Red Devils have taken the longer, harder road.


Area 15 Standing after March 20:
West Morgan Rebels  2 - 0 (beat Danville 9 - 0, 11 - 0)
Clements Colts           1 - 1 plus tiebreaker win over Elkmont
Elkmont Red Devils    1 - 1
Danville Hawks           0 - 2


Next Area Series is against the Danville Hawks, March 26 - 27.