Whiteoak wins Deb’s Wooden Bat Classic

MOWRYSTOWN — Saturday was an excellent day of baseball for the Whiteoak Wildcats, as they hosted the annual Deb’s Wooden Bat Classic, and the four-team tournament saw WHS finish as the winners by defeating Trimble and Rock Hill. 

The fourth team — who also hosted a game — was the Hillsboro Indians, who went 0-2 in the tournament, while Trimble and Rock Hill each finished 1-1. 

For WHS, their first game of the day was a 2-1 nine-inning win over Trimble at WHS. WHS trailed 1-0 after the top of the second inning, and the score stayed the same until the bottom of the seventh when the Wildcats tied things up at 1-1. 

The bottom of the seventh began with Jacen Applegate drawing a five-pitch walk to lead off the inning, as Christian Hite entered the game as a pinch runner. With Hite on first base, Dakota Clift — on a 1-0 count — singled to right field, moving Hite to third base. 

From there, the score was tied off a double to centerfield hit by Abraham Flader. 

With the game in extra innings, it took until the bottom of the ninth for the game to end, as Whiteoak led off the bottom of the ninth with a single to left field off the bat of Applegate. Camron Storms entered the game as the pinch runner for Applegate and the Wildcats. 

Storms advanced on the bases with a steal of second, and to third off a single by Dakota Clift, and scored off a base hit to centerfield by Caden Butler for the 2-1 win. 

On the mound, Zander Roades was outstanding, pitching eight innings, where he allowed one run (unearned) on seven hits, one walk and one HBP. Roades finished with 10 strikeouts in the no-decision. 

Eli Roberts was the winning pitcher for WHS, going one inning on the mound, where he allowed no runs on no hits and one walk. Roberts struck out one batter for his first win of the season. 

At the plate, the Wildcats totaled eight hits, where Roberts was 2-for-4. Roades finished 1-for-2 with a steal and two walks. Dakota Clift finished 2-for-4 with a steal. 

Applegate finished 1-for-3 with a walk. Flader was 1-for-4 with an RBI, and Butler finished 1-for-3 with a steal, RBI and one walk. Jonah Michael finished with a walk in the Whiteoak victory. 

BOX SCORE
THS    010 000 000 — 1 7 3
WHS    000 000 101 — 2 8 3

Game two for WHS in the doubleheader saw Whiteoak defeat Rock Hill 4-0 as WJHS held RHHS to one hit in seven innings. 

WHS scored one run in the bottom of the second for the 1-0 lead. From there, they added one run in the third and two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. 

For the game, WHS had five hits and no errors. Rock Hill totaled one hit and committed four errors. 

Izayah Clift was the winning pitcher, as he went seven innings on the mound for the complete game win. The freshman allowed no runs on one hit and three walks, as he struck out 11 batters and hit one batter. 

At the plate, the Wildcats saw four players have one hit. Roades was 1-for-2 with a walk and two steals. Izayah Clift finished 1-for-3 with a run, one walk and a steal. Roberts ended the game at 1-for-3 with a run and one steal. Flader also had a hit, as he was 1-for-3. 

Also for the Wildcats, Michael had one RBI and a walk, while teammate Kaden Moon-Stone collected a run and two RBI. 

The win improved WHS to an overall record of 6-1. 

BOX SCORE
RHHS    000 000 0 — 0 1 4
WHS    011 020 x — 4 5 0

Publisher's note: A free press is critical to having well-informed voters and citizens. While some news organizations opt for paid websites or costly paywalls, The Highland County Press has maintained a free newspaper and website for the last 25 years for our community. If you would like to contribute to this service, it would be greatly appreciated. Donations may be made to: The Highland County Press, P.O. Box 849, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133. Please include "for website" on the memo line.