The members of Ripley’s baseball team celebrate with Cade Goode (14) after his two-run home run in a sectional baseball game against Hurricane Friday at Ripley High School. (Photo by Aaron Lee)
RIPLEY – On the verge of elimination, Ripley’s baseball team made the most of the opportunity and survived to play another day with a 7-2 sectional win against Hurricane at home. After losing to the Redskins two days earlier by a score of 3-1, the Vikings got up early to ensure a rematch the next day for the sectional crown.
Ripley was kickstarted early in the game by a two-run bomb courtesy of senior Cade Goode. His home run sailed over the left field fence and hit the bus parked behind it, sending both himself and Jackson Curry on a trip around the bases.
“It felt great. First pitch fastball middle middle, and I did what I was supposed to do,” Goode explained.
Hurricane quickly responded with four hits in the next inning, all of which were singles. First it was Tyler Baxter, then Braden Sloan. Blake Bradley hit the next one and did the honors of sending Baxter home. Bryson Shirkey hit the last one to load the bases, but the Vikings turned a double play to end the inning.
Ripley expanded her lead at the bottom of the frame. Bryson Casto batted in Landon Meadows on a single to give the Vikings a 3-1 lead. After forcing Hurricane to go three up and three down for the second time of the game at the top of the third, Ripley once again did damage at the plate. A double by Meadows sent both Goode and Parker Keller home after they were both walked, bringing Ripley’s run total to five.
Ripley’s Gatlin Donohew pitches the ball in a sectional baseball game against Hurricane Friday at Ripley High School. (Photo by Aaron Lee)
The Redskins were able to get their second run of the game at the top of the fourth. Aiden Ocheltree, who was pinch running for Griffin Dempsey, was brought home on a sacrifice by Bryson Shirkey to make the score 5-2.
After loading the bases, the Vikings scored the last runs of the game in the bottom of the fifth. A pair of singles by Eli Phalen and Bryson Casto sent Meadows and Kyler Doss home to add to their lead.
Hurricane managed to get runners in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings, but was unable to make anything happen from there.
Donohew, in what could have been his final game as a Viking, pitched a complete game as someone who typically comes in as a relief pitcher. He gave up two runs on eight hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
“It’s a great feeling coming out here in an elimination game, especially as a senior, to just leave everything out there on that field, just wanting to get to the next day,” said Donohew after the win.
Hurricane’s Jayden Lester pitched 4.1 innings while giving up five hits, walking three batters and striking out five. Wyatt Gautier came in in relief to pitch the final 1.2 innings. He walked one batter and gave up three hits.
“They played better than we did. “We just didn’t play well,” explained Redskins head coach Brian Sutphin after the loss.
I have continued, “The good thing about double elimination is, if you get beat twice, you don’t deserve to move on, and we get an opportunity tomorrow, and that’s really what the focus is. “We get a chance to come out tomorrow and take care of business.”
“They’re a good ball club, they’re well-coached, they do a good job, good players, and may the best team win,” concluded Sutphin.
Ripley head coach Shane Casto gave his thoughts after the Vikings survived to play another day, “It was a great win for us. That was big out of Gatlin Donohew for us to throw a complete game. I think he started one of our scrimmage games this year, and that’s the only start he’s had. He’s been a guy that we’ve brought in relief, and I couldn’t be happier for him to come out here and throw a complete game against a great team in an elimination game. Big crowd, big environment, tough situation, and my hats off to him. “He did a great job for us tonight.”
Casto credited Ripley’s other senior, Cade Goode, for bringing the bats to life, “Cade got us going there early in the game, and it fueled our fire. Hitting is contagious, so once we started going we got squared up pretty good. Lester is a great pitcher, but we were able to bat on the ball on the barrel and get some good pitches to hit and do some damage with it. “It started with Cade, and that got us going.”
The Vikings’ skipper described his mindset going into the final sectional matchup against Hurricane, “It’s another game. We gotta score one more run than them and get 21 outs before they do. They know what’s at stake, and you try not to make it bigger than what it is. It’s another game. We’ve played these guys four times this year, so they know us, we know them. “We’ve got Cade Goode available on the mound, so we like our chances.”
Goode said of the upcoming start, “I’m trying to come off of this win, keep my head high and go out there and do what I can do.”
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