For a second consecutive game, the Mayfield Cardinals went down in the first inning. This time, in a 10-7 final against Murray, they went down 4-0 in the top of the first where their starting pitcher, Austin Ellis, failed to record an out. Only one of the runs was earned, however.
The Cardinals once again did not quit, as they battled all the way back and scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at 7-7. This would send the game to extra innings. In extras, neither team scored in the eighth inning. The Tigers scored three runs in the top of the ninth and that would be enough as they held on to win 10-7.
After Ellis was pulled from the game, Kole Collins entered.
MARSHALL COUNTY 6, MAYFIELD 3
The Mayfield Cardinals baseball team began their season on Monday evening against the Marshall County Marshals. The Cardinals lost the game 6-3.
The game was originally scheduled to be hosted by the Mayfield, but it was moved to Marshall County.
Kole Collins led the game off with an infield single for the Cardinals, but was picked off of first base and tagged out after getting into a rundown. The next two hitters would get out on a strikeout and a ground out to end the inning, allowing the Marshals to get out of the inning by facing the minimum.
The Cardinals starting pitcher was Jaylen Bass, he walked the first Marshals hitter on four pitches and gave up an RBI triple to the next hitter. Landon Kemp caught a fly ball in right field and threw the runner out at home attempting to tag up. The next three hitters would walk and another run would come in to score. After an inning of play, the Cardinals trailed 2-0.
Mayfield would go down in order in the top of the second. In the bottom half of the inning, the first two Marshals made outs, but after that they were able to score four runs.
In the top of the third, the Cardinals would score their first run off of an error from the Marshals shortstop. The Cardinals added another run in the top of the fourth and were trailing 6-2 after holding the Marshals scoreless in back-to-back innings.
Neither team would score in the fifth inning, but the Cardinals did score another run in the top of the sixth and trailed 6-3 with an inning left to play.
JJ Williams entered to pitch for the Cardinals in the bottom of the second with two outs and the bases loaded. He allowed an infield single for the Marshals fourth run of the inning, but after that he was dominant. In Williams’ last four innings of work, he allowed two hits, zero runs, one walk and struck out four.
“JJ has done a good job for us so far,” head coach Richard Collins said. “He’s had some good innings in the scrimmages for us. He came in and held them.”
Although the Cardinals went down early, they never quit and fought until the last out to pull off the comeback but fell short of doing so.
“I like the way our guys bounced back,” Collins said. “We stayed in it. We could have gotten 10-runned there early, but I think our guys battled back and I was proud of our effort on that part.”
