Corrigan-Camden baseball pulled off an upset over its rival Friday night on the north end of Polk County, defeating the district leaders from Groveton 1-0.
Each team had trouble getting runners to third base, as defense and pitching kept both offenses off the board.
Threatening in the bottom of the second with the bases loaded and no outs, Bulldogs Kreek Johnson, Layton Cox and Braylon Levy had all collected hits. A fielder's choice off the bat of Will Ratliff was sent back to home for a force out. Then, a fly out to center field led to a play at the plate, where the runner was out for the double play to end the inning.
Corrigan-Camden looked to be the better team through four innings, but had no proof in the score. That changed in the bottom of the fifth, when Mason Murphy reached by infield single. A wild pitch pushed him to second base and a sacrifice bunt from Blake Elam moved him over to third. Michael Murphy reached on an error and the run scored to break the tie.
In the top of the sixth, Groveton's Cooper Shanafelt singled, and a sacrifice bunt from Trystin Ard moved him over. A sacrifice fly from Ty Torregrossa got him to third base, but a ground out to shortstop stranded the runner at third. That would be as close as the Indians would get to scoring Friday, dropping their first district game of the year.
Mason Murphy was excellent Friday, throwing all seven innings to shut out a Groveton team that had won seven in a row.
On Monday, Corrigan-Camden baseball won their final regular-season game 9-4 at Hemphill — an unusual rescheduled matchup due to concerns about rain later in the week.
The Bulldogs scored quickly in the first inning on an RBI single by Johnson.
The big inning came in the third. Elam scored after reaching on a walk and advancing on a Hornet error, with teammate Michael Murphy credited with the RBI. He also scored, along with Cooper Kilgore — who reached base on an error — on a two-run single by Johnson. Cox added an infield single before Uriel Danini delivered a two-run double to right center, scoring Johnson and Kilgore.
Another run was added in the fifth inning when Bulldog Braylon Levi reached on an infield single and advanced to third on two wild pitches. Levi then attempted to score on another wild pitch, got caught in a rundown between third and home, and beat the throw to score. Hemphill made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh, scoring two runs, but Kilgore came in to relieve Michael Murphy and shut down the rally.
Bulldog leadoff hitter Mason Murphy was hit by three pitches, leaving him with three bruises. The third hit-by-pitch led to a brief verbal exchange on the field, which umpires quickly quieted.
In the playoffs once more, the Bulldogs will face Shelbyville in the first round. The schedule and location will be determined later this week.
Ernie Provasek contributed to this story.
