BOONE — Watauga Blue’s 15-and-under all-star baseball team battled through a trio of elimination games to capture a runner-up finish for the District 2 Tournament, which concluded on Saturday afternoon at Watauga High School.
Despite Wilkes County claiming the district title in a 20-4 win to advance to the Tar Heel League State Tournament, Watauga Blue head coach Chris Shreve felt Saturday’s games (which also included a 16-4 win against Avery County) presented his team a good opportunity for what they will see in the state tournament.
Watauga will serve as hosts for the state tournament, which is set for July 24-27 at Watauga High School and on Complex 3 at Watauga County Parks & Recreation.
Noah Brown, who pitched in both of Saturday’s games, tossed five innings of relief in Watauga’s win against Avery County.
Photo by Zach Colburn
“You can’t really replicate live game pitching or the count or kind of just the feel and the pressure, so I told them it was basically a long weekend of practice to get ready for state,” said Shreve. “Our pitchers got dialed in. We were hitting the ball well, so I feel like we progressed very well today; we also had great cohesion. I think throughout the long day, they kind of leaned in on each other and came together as opposed to pointing fingers or anything like that, so it was really a good day for the team to come together I thought.”
Before Saturday’s championship, Wilkes County had not allowed a run or given up a hit in its first two tournament games, where it outscored its opponents 34-0.
Wilkes, which no-hit Watauga 18-0 in Thursday’s opener, looked like it would continue that trend after it plated six runs in a lengthy first inning that also included a 30-minute lightning delay.
After Watauga plated a run in the bottom half of the inning with a Judd Crysel RBI single, Wilkes County tacked on three more runs in the third and three in the fourth.
On the verge of possibly having the game end early in the bottom of the fourth, Avery Tester scored on a Kaiden Chiarolanzio single, and Hunter Townsend cut the deficit to 12-3 with an RBI single of his own.
“It was a little rough two days ago against these same guys. Today, I thought we showed well; didn’t finish up perfect, of course, and the margin of victory doesn’t really show it, but we didn’t turn it all,” said Shreve. “The whole game, we fought, dug a little hole early, and had to fight our way throughout, and they did that. They stayed together and hunkered down.”
Watauga’s Avery Tester attempts to tag out Wilkes County’s Laydon Dyer at home during Saturday’s District 2 championship game.
Photo by Zach Colburn
Grayson Bowlsbey used an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth to assure that the game would go the distance (the first time that Wilkes County played a full seven-inning game in the district).
Wilkes County put the game out of reach with seven runs in the top of the seventh, highlighted by a Colby Shumate RBI triple.
“It was a long day. I think Coach (Mitchell Townsend) said we played seven hours of baseball today, but I think if we’re fresh in that game, it might be a different game,” said Shreve, who only had nine players available on Saturday. “But I think that first game against Avery County (a 16-4 win) felt good, and the momentum from that, felt good and kind of helped to fire us up and keep our energy the whole time in that game.”
In addition to the offense, Quinn Cashwell snagged a liner at shortstop to end a threat in the second where Wilkes had runners in scoring position. Avery Tester, who spent time at catcher in Saturday’s game, threw out a would-be base stealer at third in the fifth inning.
Laydon Dyer earned the win on the mound for Wilkes as he struck out seven and scattered three hits and an earned run in four innings of work. Luke Dillard struck out four and did not allow an earned run (one overall) and no walks in three scoreless innings of relief.
Noah Brown took the loss on the mound.
Watauga Blue stymies Avery to advance to championship
Watauga Blue broke open a close game in the late innings to best its neighboring county foe to advance to the District 2 tournament finals on Saturday morning at Watauga High School.
After building a five-run advantage through six innings, Watauga put the game to bed with a seven-run seventh thanks to a Noah Brown two-run double and a two-run triple from Quinn Cashwell.
Hunter Townsend comes up with a catch in left field for Watauga.
Photo by Zach Colburn
Brown was one of five Watauga players to finish with multiple hits as he went 3-for-5 at the plate with a pair of runs batted in. In addition to the three hits, Brown tossed five innings of relief as he allowed a pair of runs on three hits and struck out three.
Avery Tester extended the lead to 14-4 with an RBI single.
The early support benefited Joseph Hemrick on the mound, who earned the win as he struck out three over the first two innings. He also paced Watauga Blue at the plate with four hits and a pair of runs batted in.
In addition to Hemrick and Brown, Judd Crysel added three hits and Tester and Hunter Townsend finished with two hits apiece.
Grayson Gouge led Avery County with two hits, and John Barlow, Kolton Wise (RBI), and Wyatt Davis collected one hit apiece.
Wilkes County 20, Watauga Blue 4
Wilkes County 203 007 — 20 13 1
Watauga 200 032 — 4 4 6
Noah Brown — 2 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K — LOSS
Quinn Cashwell — 5 IP, 9 H, 14 R, 12 ER, 11 BB, 3 K
Laydon Dyer — 4 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K — WIN
Luke Dillard — 3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Kaiden Chiarolanzio — 1 H, 3 AB, 2 R, 1 RBI
Grayson Bowlsbey — 1 H, 2 AB, 2B, 1 RBI
Judd Crysel — 1 H, 3 AB, 1 RBI
Hunter Townsend — 1 H, 3 AB, 1 RBI
Jase Miller — 2 H, 5 AB, 4 RBI, 3B, 2 B, 2 R
Dalton Huffman — 2 H, 4 AB, 2 RBI
Laydon Dyer — 2 H, 3 AB, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 2 R
Maddox Roberts — 2 H, 2 AB, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 3 R
Colby Shumate 1 H, 1 AB, 3 BB, 4 R
Watauga Blue 16, Avery County 4
Watauga 320 220 7 — 16 16 0
Avery County 200 101 0 — 4 5 0
Joseph Hemrick — 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1BB, 3 K — WIN
Noah Brown — 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Brennon Wright — 4.2 IP, 10 H, 9 R, 9 ER, 1 BB, 3 K — LOSS
Isaac Andrews — 2.1 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 6 K
Joseph Hemrick — 4 H, 4 AB, 3 RBI, 2 2B, 3 R
Noah Brown — 3 H, 5 AB, 2 RBI, 2B
Judd Crysel — 3 H, 4 AB, 2 R
Avery Tester — 2 H, 4 AB, 2B, RBI, 2 R
Hunter Townsend — 2 H, 5 AB, 2 R
Quinn Cashwell — 1 H, 3 AB, 2 RBI, 3B
Grayson Gouge — 2 H, 3 AB
Kolton Wise — 1 H, 2 AB, 1 RBI, 1 R
John Barlow — 1 H, 3 AB
Third baseman Judd Crysel went 4-for-7 at the plate during Watauga’s two games on Saturday.
Photo by Zach Colburn
Watauga’s Quinn Cashwell makes contact with a pitch during Saturday’s game with Avery County.
Photo by Zach Colburn
Joseph Hemrick, seen here hitting against Wilkes County, finished with four hits and a trio of runs batted in during Watauga’s win over Avery County.
Photo by Zach Colburn