District 1-AA Baseball Tournament: Happy Valley pushes past Johnson County
Published 12:30 pm Saturday, May 7, 2016
After dropping two games to the Longhorns this season, the Warriors picked up the win when it counted as they topped Johnson County 5-2 during the District 1-AA Baseball Tournament at Dobyns-Bennett Friday.
“This was probably one of the best ball games that we have played all year,” Happy Valley head coach Brad Hill said. “We executed at the plate, hitting runs, stealing bases, making sac bunts.
“(Justin) Morefield threw an excellent game tonight,” Hill added. “He had some long innings in the middle, but those last innings were some of his best.”
Morefield tossed seven innings, during which he only gave up four hits and two walks while striking out seven hitters
“I had to go out there and do my job, which is to throw strikes,” Morefield said. “The team backed me well, and we won every inning.
“This is big because we have should beat them both times this season,” Morefield added.
The Warriors got rolling in the bottom of the first, when Happy Valley’s Taylor Hurley came to house off an RBI single from Ryne Baines to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead.
Happy Valley got on board again in the bottom of the second as Taylor Hurley smacked an RBI single to net Sage Haun sliding Happy Valley’s lead to 2-0.
In the third, the Warriors kept on rolling as Ryne Baines, who got on base with his second hit of the night, scramble home off a sacrifice fly by Morefield. Happy Valley’s Ian Scruggs also made it home in the inning as he scampered to the plate during a wild pitch to give the Warriors a 4-0 lead.
The Longhorns finally scored in the top of the fourth, but Happy Valley would answer in the bottom of the inning with Timmy Masters picking up Happy Valley’s final run of the game.
The Longhorns were able to muster up one more run in the top of the seventh.
From the plate, both Haun and Baines went 2-of-3, with Baines picking up an RBI.
The Warriors will be back in action Saturday as they take on No. seed Sullivan South.
