Make it back-to-back KCAA state baseball championships for the Heritage Christian Academy Warriors. HCA scored ten unanswered runs Saturday as they rolled past Cornerstone Christian Academy 10-2 in the KCAA championship game at Heritage Christian.
The win gives the Warriors a second straight championship. HCA won the title in 2021, beating Assumption in the title game.
Things got off to a bit of a rocky start for the Warriors Saturday morning. Cornerstone converted a walk, an HCA, and a single into a couple of runs and a 2-0 lead just half an inning into the game. But that would turn out to be the end of the hopes for Cornerstone.
The Warriors quickly got the two runs back in the bottom of the first inning. After a pair of walks, J.J. Thompson would score on a wild pitch. David Jent then singled to drive in Trenton Hayes, and the game was tied 2-2.
HCA took the lead for good in the bottom of the third inning. J.J. Thompson led off the inning with a triple and then scored on a double from Trenton Hayes. Hayes would then score on a Cornerstone error to make it a 4-2 ballgame. Another error and the lead moved out to 5-2 as the inning came to a close.
Trenton Hayes and David Jent got things going again for the Warriors in the bottom of the fourth. Hayes drove in two runs with a double and Jent drove in another with a triple as Heritage extended the lead to 8-2. HCA would add an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth and another in the bottom of the sixth to seal the championship win.
David Jent finished the day 3-4 with a triple and four RBIs. Trenton Hayes was 2-3 with two doubles and three RBIs. HCA scored its ten runs on eight hits. The Warriors took advantage of two Cornerstone errors and four walks.
After a bit of a rough spot in the first inning, J.J. Thompson took over on the mound for the Warriors. He would go six innings, giving up two runs, neither of them earned, on just one hit. Thompson also gave up just one hit in last year’s championship game. He finished the day Saturday with 13 strikeouts and walked four.
Walker Ashby pitched the final inning in relief, giving up no runs on no hits, striking out two, and walking one.
For his efforts in the Heritage wins in the semifinals and the final, Trenton Hayes was named the MVP of the tournament.
Also after the game, the KCAA presented its Mr. Baseball award to the Warriors’ Weston Powell.
