PADUCAH — In a battle of two of western Kentucky’s best high school baseball teams, Murray High not only avenged a loss to St. Mary (Paducah) from earlier this season but kept its winning streak intact as well.

The Tigers will head into the postseason winners of their last 10 games after an impressive 9-4 defeat of the Vikings Thursday in Paducah. The Kentucky 2A Championships Sectional 1 champions are 22-8 ahead of next week’s 4th District Tournament. St. Mary, who upended the Tigers, 2-1, early in the season at Murray, drops to 17-7.

The Tigers broke a scoreless tie in the third inning with two runs. Eventually, that lead grew to 9-1 by the middle of the seventh. The Vikings did try to mount a last-ditch rally but could only score three times before the Tigers registered the final out.

Murray High had 12 hits and that was more than enough run support for right-hander Avery Starks on the mound as he went five innings, allowed only four hits to the hard-hitting Vikings, and registered five strikeouts. 

Starks also helped his cause at the plate with two hits, both singles, accounting for four of the Tigers’ runs. Asa Munsey was a solid 3-for-4 at the plate, while Liam Ryan also added two hits.

MURRAY — Visiting Crittenden County won for the sixth time in its last nine games Thursday at Laker Field.

The home team (10-14) took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning but, from there, this game belonged to the Rockets (13-16), starting with four runs in the second. The Rockets added four more runs in the fifth. The Lakers tallied once in the fifth and once in the sixth but it was not enough to overcome being outhit, 9-5, and committing four big errors on defense.

Trent Jones tried to  help the Calloway cause as he had two singles and three RBIs.

MURRAY — Murray High (8-19) headed into its 4th District Tournament date with next-door neighbor Calloway County on Saturday by winning its seventh game in its last nine outings Thursday and needing only five innings to do it against Community Christian Academy of McCracken County.

This also marked the Lady Tigers’ fourth run-rule knockout win in their last six games as they continue to fine tune their offense for the postseason.

The Lady Warriors tried to stay with Murray High in the early going and only trailed, 3-1, after the first inning.

Things began to unravel in the second inning as the Lady Tigers added two more runs, then scored three more times in the third. The Lady Tigers then scored five times in the fourth to take a 13-1 lead and had a chance at an even quicker early stoppage but could not score again with only one out.

CCA then tried to extend the game by scoring twice in the fifth before the Lady Tigers ended the surge.

Teegan Miller is swinging a hot bat at the end of the season and she continued that on Thursday by going 2-for-2 with a home run and a double with two RBIs and three runs scored. Laurel Johnson also had a nice day at the plate with a three-run triple and two runs scored. MacKenzie Toliver was also 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs.

Toliver was also the pitcher and went all five innings, allowing four hits with six strikeouts. 

LONE OAK — Calloway County’s Connor Pile was not quite able to keep the magic going in Wednesday’s semifinals of the Kentucky Region 1 Tennis Championship.

Pile was defeated by tough Luke Brayboy of McCracken County — 6-0, 6-0. However, that does not end the season for the Laker senior, as reaching the semis means he earned a state tournament berth.