A season for the record books continues for the Hampton baseball program.
The Bulldogs clinched a spot in the District 1-A Championship game as well as a Region 1-A tournament berth with an 8-2 victory over North Greene in an elimination game on Wednesday at David Crockett High School.
Hampton is set to face University High on Thursday for the tournament title. The Bulldogs must win the first game to force an if-necessary game.
“This win was for everyone that cares about Hampton High School Baseball,” Hampton Head Coach Nicholas Perkins said. “I am so proud of my players and coaches.”
Hampton opened the game quickly.
Chance Point hit a triple on the third pitch of the game, and Morgan Lyons pushed Point across the plate with a single for the game’s first run. Hampton extended the lead to 2-0 as Lyons scored off a Collin Morgan RBI.
North Greene got on the board with a lone run in the bottom of the third.
Hampton, however, answered in the top of the fifth.
Lyons used a triple to plate Point, and Lyons then scored off an error to push the lead to 5-1 after the fifth.
The Huskies plated a run in the bottom of the sixth to close the gap to three runs with one inning remaining.
Hampton wasn’t going to be denied in the final inning.
With two outs, Caleb Royston hit a single to score Lyons and
McKinley Kuhn hit a deep fly ball to score Morgan and Royston.
That gave Hampton an 8-2 advantage.
The final side saw NG get a base runner on with one out, but Hampton retired the next two batters to secure the win.
Point, Morgan, and Lyons had two hits apiece, while Lyons tallied three RBI.
Brody Hicks, Royston, and Kuhn each added a hit.
On the mound, Josh Whitson pitched a gem of a game.
Whitson allowed just two earned runs on three hits with five strikeouts in a complete-game effort.
