In a battle of left-handed aces, Caldwell County’s Deontaye “Bizzle” Walls outdueled Jonathon Cain of Madisonville-North Hopkins.
Walls not only fired a two-hitter, he also drove in the first two runs of the contest as his Tigers blanked the Maroons 5-0 Tuesday in the 7th District championship game at Elmer Kelley Stadium in Madisonville.
As expected, offense was difficult to come by early in the contest. The teams went to the third inning 0-0.
But Caldwell (13-12) put together a quick burst to claim a 1-0 advantage in the top of the third. With two outs, Tate VanHooser tripled into right-center. Walls followed with a single through the hole on the left side to put the first run on the scoreboard.
The game stayed 1-0 until the top of the fifth. A single and two walks loaded the bases for Caldwell with nobody out. Walls singled sharply to center to drive in a run and make it 2-0.
Cain struck out the next batter for the first out, but then Jamus Carneyhan singled to drive in another run while the bases remained full. Cain worked out of that jam with two more strikeouts, but the Tigers held a 3-0 lead.
Caldwell tacked on two insurance runs in the top of the seventh. With Cain nearing his single-game pitch count, Gabe Dyer drove in a run with a single to center with one out. Carter Whittington then drove in Dyer with a two-out single to right to extend the margin to 5-0.
Madisonville (11-15) put a two-out runner on base in the bottom of the seventh when Landon Cline singled to left. But Walls struck out the next batter to finish off his complete-game effort on the mound.
Walls struck out seven and walked four while needing 91 pitches to blank the Maroons.
Carneyhan finished 3-for-4 at the plate for Caldwell while Walls, Holeman and Whittington were each 2-for-4.
Cain struck out nine for the Maroons while allowing five earned runs on 11 base hits in 6.1 innings.
Madisonville had won the lone regular-season meeting in Princeton 5-4 in nine innings.
The Maroons beat Caldwell 5-1 in the 2019 district championship game. The Tigers had won seven straight 7th District titles prior to that.
Both Caldwell and Madisonville advance to the 2nd Region tournament, which begins Saturday at University Heights Academy in Hopkinsville. The regional draw is scheduled for Friday morning.
