BEARCATS WIN CLASS 3A REGION 1 TOURNAMENT IN HARRISON

The Booneville Bearcats last won a regional tournament when the current players were in elementary school.

While that drought ended Friday night with a Class 3A Region 1 Tournament title at Equity Bank Sports Complex’s Jack Williams Field, there would be no anxiety filled buildup .

Winning their 19th straight game, the Bearcats recorded 17 hits and posted a line score of 2-4-6-8 in pounding league opponent Charleston 20-1.

Charleston may attend the Bearcat commencement ceremonies to make sure Rylen Ray and Dax Goff are actually gone.

The 100-career RBI duo combined for 11 in the regional finals and were a combined 7-for-7 with a walk. Ray had four hits and seven RBI.

Ray got it started in the first when, with Charleston leading 1-0 and Goff on second on a double that hopped over the Tiger shortstop, he blasted his eighth home run of the year to left for a 2-1 lead.

The benefactor of the run production was Dylan Todd (3-1) who capped a fantastic tournament with the Bearcats’ third complete game in two days as the tournament pace was advanced to avoid possible storms on Saturday.

Todd struck out the side in the Tiger second and was on cruise control after the four run bottom of the inning.

Matt O’Bar started it with a double. A Rhett Nietert bases loaded single between short and third scored one, Todd got one in on a fly ball, Goff drove in one with a single between third and short, and Ray plated his third of the game with another single between third and short and it was 6-1.

In the third it was a Todd single for a run, a bases loaded walk to Goff for one, a single by Ray for two, a Jace Washburn single for one, and an O’Bar single for another, with the latter two again between third and short.

In the fourth Todd drove in his third of the game, Goff doubled home two , Ray singled home two more through to left yet again, before an error resulted in two runs rather than the one Xander Miller would have driven in, and a bizarre Noah Harrel sacrifice fly that saw two retired but it was 20-1.

In the 10 a.m. game Friday there had been plenty of drama for the Bearcats and Washburn.

A two-out error led to Paris scoring three fifth inning runs and tying the game at 3-3, but the Bearcats did the little things the rest of the way to pull out a win.

Specifically, they bunted their way to the finals.

Washburn led off the Bearcat sixth with a smash to deep left for a double and O’Bar bunted the go-ahead run to third.

Parker Smith looked to bunt but instead drew a walk and Casey Carter followed him with a squeeze bunt with Washburn beating the flip home for the lead.

Conner Lentz bunted and beat it out to load the bases and Nietert got one out of the infield for a single and a 5-3 lead.

Todd became the fourth bunter of the inning and third to reach, scoring Harrel, who was running for Carter and it was 6-3.

Goff followed with, statistically, a sacrifice fly that was hauled in in shallow right field by the Eagle second baseman and with Lentz safe at home it was 7-3.

Paris was at the top of its order for the seventh but Washburn started it with a strikeout. A pair of singles had runners on the corners but Goff gunned down his fifth would be stealer of the season for the second out.

Washburn (6-0), who has been the winning pitcher in every appearance this year, got his sixth strikeout on his 110th pitch of the day – the maximum.

Washburn had worked out of a bases loaded jam in the first and was given a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the inning.

Todd singled, Goff reached on an Eagle error, and Ray drove in a run with a ground ball.

Nietert reached on another Paris error in the third and singles by Todd and Goff made it 2-0 before Ray got another with a ground ball out to make it 3-0.

Smith and Lentz singled in the fourth but the Bearcats could not do further damage.

After the two-out error in the fifth Paris took advantage cut it to 3-2 on a double, and tied it on a single. A third straight hit moved a potential go-ahead run to third but Washburn struck out the next hitter to end the frame.

In the opener Thursday morning Goff (5-0) threw exactly 100 pitches while allowing three hits, walking one, and striking out 13 in a 6-0 win over Lincoln.

He also hit his eighth home run of the season to make it 6-0 in the fifth. With one away in the inning, Nietert and Todd had singled in front of Goff.

Goff also had a hand in the first run of the day, sort of. Todd tripled with one out and scored when the Wolf catcher had to throw down a dropped third strike and it was 1-0.

Aboard on an error, Goff scored on a Ray double to make it 2-0 in the fourth. Smith lifted a fly ball to score pinch runner Dakota Fonseca before the inning ended to make it 3-0.

Lincoln had two aboard in the second and was gifted a baserunner on an error in the third but Ray threw him out trying to steal.

Goff sat down the next seven then picked off the Wolf hitter who singled in the sixth to end the streak.

The Wolves got two aboard in the final inning but Goff induced a line drive at Nietert at shortstop to slam the door.

The Bearcats are the top seed from Region 1 and will play Pangburn, the four seed from Region 3 at 3 p.m. on Thursday at Majestic Park in Hot Springs in the Class 3A State tournament. Prescott is the tournament host.