CHS whips Washington 7-3

Campbellsville High School knocked off Washington County 7-3 in the last first-round game in the Fifth Region Baseball Tournament on Monday night in Elizabethtown.
The Commanders (18-19), who entered the game 15-3 vs. region foes and 3-15 outside the region, struck with two runs in the top of the first inning.
Three of the first four Washington County batters got hits with Tyler Coulter’s double scoring lead-off batter Thomas Spalding and Trae Abell’s single plating Coulter.
Campbellsville took the lead for good in the bottom of the first on doubles by winning pitcher Brett Kearney and Aylette Cowherd and singles by Zach Durham and Caleb Gupton.
The Eagles added two more runs in the second on Stealth Townley’s double, a walk to Kearney, Cowherd’s single and Durham’s infield out.
Despite three hits in the third, a 4U-3 double play (Durham to Gupton) thwarted the Commander rally.
Campbellsville added a run in the fourth and fifth innings and a Durham RBI single and a Kearney run-scoring base knock.
Washington County’s only other run came in the fifth on losing pitcher Blake Smith’s single. Spalding, Coulter and Abell had two-hit games for the Commanders.
Kearney, Cowherd and Durham had two-hit outings in the nine-hit Eagle attack.
It was the second straight year CHS had eliminated the Commanders. Last year’s game was in the tourney semi-finals. The two programs are coached by Spencer County High School and Campbellsville University graduates — Kirby Smith at Campbellsville and Derek Schuler of Washington County.
The semi-finals were called off on Tuesday with the Eagles scheduled to meet their Fifth Region Tourney nemesis, Central Hardin, on Wednesday. The Bruins had eliminated CHS in their previous four region appearances.
LaRue County and Adair County met in last night’s other semi-final clash with the championship game scheduled for tonight at 6:30.
The Fifth Region victor will meet the Fourth Region champion in the Kentucky National Insurance/KHSAA State Baseball Tournament on Monday (11 a.m.) at Lexington’s Whitaker Bank Ballpark.

Bobby Brockman

Lake Wiseman gets a lead during the Eagles' first-round win.

Buy this photo

Bobby Brockman

Aylette Cowherd had two-hit game vs. Washington County.

Buy this photo

•••
In other first-round games on Monday:
•18th District champion LaRue County defeated Elizabethtown 3-1.
•Adair County won its first regional baseball game since 1979 as Jared Denton pitched the Indians past Bethlehem 5-1.
•Defending state champion Central Hardin did not to use its top two pitchers as the Bruins eliminated Green County 8-2.