Cardinals Start Tourney 2-0

GULF SHORES, Ala. — Pitchcount limits mandated by the Arkansas Activities Association played a major role as Farmington traveled to Gulf Shores, Ala., to compete in a spring break tournament last week.

The Cardinals played a double-header on March 20, winning both games to start the tourney 2-0. The Cardinals needed to finish in the top two in their pool of the 32-team tournament to qualify for a 4-team, single-elimination tournament on Thursday.

Farmington 9, Summitt, Nashville, 8

Tyler Gregg started and pitched 3 innings due to throwing 57 pitches because of AAA pitching rules. He gave up 2 runs, 5 hits, walked 5, and struck out 3. The Cardinals trailed 2-0 entering bottom of the second inning before Drake Vinyard hit a one-out double and scored on a RBI single by Logan Bobak. Still, the Cardinals trailed 2-1 after two innings.

The third inning was scoreless for both teams. Vinyard relieved Gregg in the fourth inning and allowed one run on 2 hits. The Cardinals added a run with Cameron Bracy pinch- running for Tripp Cheney, who had walked. Bracy scored on an error by the third baseman on a ball hit by Logan Bobak narrowing the gap to 3-2 after four innings.

Vinyard gave up a run in the fifth on two hits. Then Farmington went to work offensively. Gregg hit the scoreboard with a towering home-run, Cheney singled and Bracy again came in as a pinch-runner, scoring on a RBI single by Vinyard to tie the game 4-4 after five innings.

Summitt scored four runs in the sixth on two hits, two walks, and an error, leaving the Cardinals trailing 8-4 after six innings. Derek Perona pitched the seventh and walked 3 batters, but got two pop-outs and a strike-out to leave the bases loaded. When Farmington came up to bat, Eric Hill led off with a single, Vinyard followed with a single, and Trenton McChristian followed with a sacrifice bunt to move them to second and third with one out.

Bobak hit an RBI single and then Ryan Larkin hit an RBI ground-rule double, getting a bad break or the hit would have been a 2 RBI triple. The play made the score 8-6 with Bobak at third and Larkin at second. Blake Putnam was hit by a pitch to load bases for Gregg. In a battle with the pitcher, Gregg had 12 pitches at bat and hit a sacrifice RBI fly to left field to make the score 8-7 with two outs.

Farmington wasn’t finished. Kelton Price reached first on a misplayed infield fly to load the bases. Cheney hit his first pitch to left field to score Larkin. Putnam raced home from second and jarred the ball loose from catcher on a hard slide to win the game 9-8.

Derek Perona was credited with the win to move Cardi- nals to 9-3. Bobak, Larkin, Cheney, Hill, and Vinyard had multiple hits. Summitt is a large high school in Nashville, Tenn., with 2,400 high school students. The team capped the day with a great dinner at LuLu’s sponsored by the Farmington Dugout Club.

Farmington 9, Hackelberg, 5

Ben Silvis started on the hill and pitched 4 and 2/ 3 innings without giving up a run for the win. He was relieved by Kyle Gates due to throwing 62 pitches. Silvis walked 5, struck-out 5, and gave up 3 hits. Gates gave up 4 hits and 5 runs in the last 2 and 1/ innings. 3

Gregg led off the second inning with a single and advanced to third when Cheney singled and scored on a passed ball for a 1- 0 Cardinal lead after two innings.

The Cardinals broke game open in the fifth inning with 7 runs. Putnam, Price, and Will Danenhauer had RBIs on hits. McChristian hit, Larkin walked and Putnam drove McChristian home. Danenhauer drove Larkin and Putnam home with a double. Price drove in Gregg who had walked. Vinyard drove in Price with an RBI single for an 8-0 lead after five.

Putnam hit a double in the sixth and scored on a Price RBI double for a 9-0 lead. Hackleburg scored 2 runs in the sixth and 3 in the seventh for a 9-5 final to move the Cardinals to 8-3 on the season.