The Happy Valley baseball team battled hard in a two elimination games on Monday. However, the Warriors came up short in the second one.
Happy Valley took a 5-2 victory over Johnson County but dropped an 8-1 decision to Unicoi County in the District 1-AA baseball tournament at TVA Credit Union Park.
In the first game of the day, the Warriors jumped out early.
Dylan Willis hit a single in the top of the first to plate Jacob Absher as the game’s first run, and Bryce Carter pushed Willis across the plate. Carter capped the inning as he scored on a wild pitch to give HV a 3-0 lead.
After Johnson County trimmed the lead by a run in the home side of the first, the Warriors tacked on a run in the top of the third when Willis scored off a Carter fielder’s choice.
The Longhorns trimmed the HV lead to two runs in the bottom of the fifth, but Happy Valley added a run in the top of the seventh as Absher scored off a Zac Workman single.
Bart Wilson was 3-for-4 at the plate, while Absher and Workman had two hits each. Michael Harrah and Willis each added a hit.
On the mound, Harrah was masterful as he struck out 12 Johnson County batters while allowing just one earned run on three hits.
In the second game of the evening, Happy Valley took an early 1-0 lead as Workman hit a sacrifice fly to left field that allowed Absher to score. Unfortunately, that would be the only run the Warriors were able to bring across the plate.
Absher and Willis had two hits, while Wilson added another to the Warrior cause.
On the mound, Eli Reece allowed four earned runs on three hits in just over four innings of work.
