The Caldwell County Tigers played a 13-inning game earlier this season. They have now also played a game that started on Saturday and ended on Sunday.
Caldwell played into the early morning to defeat Lafayette from St. Joseph, Missouri, 7-3 in the David Taylor CDJR Dinger Wood Bat Classic.
Earlier in the day, the Tigers beat Daviess County 6-1 in that event.
The two wins push Caldwell’s season mark to 15-4.
The Tigers began the day at Marshall County High School in Draffenville, where Ari Wells scattered six base hits in a complete-game pitching performance in the win over Daviess.
Wells struck out eight, walked one and allowed just the one earned run in the contest.
Offensively, Channing Puckett was 3-for-4 and scored twice. Collin Whittington went 2-for-3 and drove in a run while Carter Whittington was 1-for-4 with a double and two runs batted in. Wells was 1-for-3 with a double and Luke Parker was 1-for-4 with a double.
A three-run second inning put Caldwell in front.
Daviess (7-9) scored its only run in the fifth to get within 4-1.
But Caldwell added insurance tallies in each of the fifth and sixth innings to improve to 2-1 all-time against the Panthers.
The Tigers then got on the bus and headed to Graves County High School in Mayfield for their second game in the event.
The Fighting Irish of Lafayette (8-5) put up single runs in the first and second innings to go up 4-1. But Caldwell countered with two runs in the third and four in the fourth to go in front 6-3.
The Tigers tacked on another run in the sixth.
Mitchell Phelps was the winning pitcher after entering the game in the second inning. He went 4.2 innings, giving up just one unearned run. Phelps fanned four and walked one while allowing just one base hit.
Puckett struck out the side in the top of the seventh to nail down the win.
Offensively, Carter Whittington was 2-for-4 with a double. He knocked in three runs and scored three times.
Parker was 2-for-4 with a double and drove in two. Collin Whittington was 1-for-3 with a double.
It was the first meeting between the two schools.
The game was originally scheduled to begin at 7:45 p.m. However, the event ran behind to the point that the first pitch came at 10:30. The final out was recorded at 12:40 a.m.
While the game made for a late night for the Tigers and their fans, it is not the latest start ever for a Caldwell baseball game.
In 2015, Caldwell’s regional tournament game against Lyon County in Hopkinsville did not get underway until 11:26 p.m. and did not finish until 1:26 a.m. The Tigers beat the Lyons 8-0 in the first round contest.
The Tigers will play again Monday when they host Madisonville-North Hopkins for a 7th District contest.
