LOUISVILLE – The first All-Bullitt County regional baseball final since 1992 lived up to the hype on Thursday before Bullitt East turned back a late Bullitt Central rally to prevail 9-5 to claim the program’s first Sixth Region title since the 2023 season.
Playing at Jim Patterson Stadium on the University of Louisville campus, Bullitt East bolted to a 5-0 lead after three innings and led 6-0 only to have the Cougars explode for five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Chargers answered with three runs in the top of the seventh and then ended the game with three straight strikeouts after their county rivals put the first two batters on base.
The game had been postponed a day after being called in the middle of the afternoon due to some weather concerns that never materialized. The championship game of the Sixth Region softball final had been played just a half mile away as the baseball field sat empty.
“It’s a different group of kids,” veteran Bullitt East head coach Jeff Bowles said of the program’s fifth regional title since 2005. “I just want them to know what this experience feels like. They cannot feel that until they are here.
“They may not realize how special this is until they are 25 or 30 years old,” the coach explained. “Some of these kids will play in college and some will not but all of them can say they won a regional title.”
With the win, Bullitt East advances to the KHSAA Baseball State Tournament presented by UK HealthCare. The first two rounds will be played at Legends Ball Park in Lexington this coming weekend before switching to the University of Kentucky’s stadium for the semifinals and championship game the following weekend.
Bullitt East will open with a game on Friday at 5 p.m. against defending state champion Trinity. The Shamrocks, 37-3 and undefeated against Kentucky teams this season, advanced as the Seventh Region champions, knocking off St. Xavier 2-0 in the nightcap on Thursday.
Perhaps Bullitt East should lose regular season games to their county rivals every year. A year ago, the Chargers lost to North Bullitt only to turn around and beat them in the quarterfinals of the Sixth Region Tournament. This year, the red and gold had lost to both North Bullitt and Bullitt Central in the regular season only to beat those teams in the Super Regional format.
“The plan we put on paper worked out,” Bowles said. “We talked to the pitchers and we talked to Chase (Litton) and we wanted less of what they saw in the first meeting. We just had these kids execute the plan.”
Bullitt East started junior Carter Hilton who had not pitched against Bullitt Central in the regular season meeting. When Hilton ran into trouble in the sixth inning, Litton, who had been the starter in the regular season loss to the Cougars, came in and lessened the possible damage. Litton was on his last batter after the first two Bullitt Central batters reached in the seventh inning, but he settled down and finished the game.
This was a bitter outcome for Bullitt Central. This was the second time in three seasons that the Cougars had reached the regional final. However, both of those games, to eventual state champion Pleasure Ridge Park in 2024 and now Bullitt East, were close games that the team had a chance to win. Bullitt Central has never won a regional baseball title.
“It was just too little, too late,” Bullitt Central head coach Chris Ryan said after meeting with his team.
In the regular season meeting, Ryan had used Collin Waltrip as the starting pitcher and then went with fellow senior Larkin Ryle. On Thursday, Ryan switched that with Ryle starting, but the results were just not the same.
“I had one that wanted the ball and one that did not,” the coach admitted. “At the end of the day I wanted someone with confidence out there. That is why I put Larkin out there. He had pitched well the first time.
“To their credit, they put the ball in play,” Ryan pointed out. “It was crazy that we came out the way we did.”
Several of the Bullitt Central players had started in the regional final against PRP two years earlier, but there were early issues.
“I think early that they were nervous and pressing,” Ryan noted. “It was too much to overcome.
The Cougars left nine runners on base in this game to just four for Bullitt East. Bullitt Central had more hits, 11 to eight. Both teams did have three errors.
Bowles’ biggest complaint about his pitching staff this season has been walks. A lot of walks. However, in this game, both Hilton and Litton walked just one batter each.
Hilton was not told that he would be the starting pitcher until after practice on Tuesday. He did get an extra day to think about it when the game was postponed 24 hours.
As it turned out, the championship game mirrored the Bullitt East season. The Chargers got off to a great start, hit a few hurdles in the middle of the season and then finished strong.
“At the beginning of the season, with the way we started, we knew that we were a good team,” Hilton said. “There were some issues, but we knew that we had the ability to be here.”
Hilton threw 89 pitches with 63 being strikes.
“The fast ball was definitely there today,” the junior said. “And my change-up was good.”
Bullitt East scored twice in the first, added one in the second and then scored twice more in the third. The Chargers did not score again until the sixth, but that was an important run as it turned out before Bullitt Central’s big inning.
In the first, Bullitt East got a one-out single from Bradley Myers and he came around to score when Hunter Holland tripled to the wall in center field. Colin Feger then grounded out to shortstop Henry Zimmerman with Holland scoring.
The Bullitt East run in the second came with the ball never leaving the infield. Cooper Warnecke walked and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Chris Logan. After a second out, Warnecke advanced to third on a balk. Bo Elder followed with a ground ball that was misplayed at second base, allowing the run to score.
In the third, Holland opened the inning with a single and then stole second. Following an out, Caden Phelps walked and that was it for Ryle. Waltrip was greeted on the mound with Phelps stealing second and then a wild pitch allowed Holland to score. Hilton’s single to left field, scored Phelps.
In the top of the sixth, Bullitt East added that important extra run. Hilton helped his own cause with a single. Warnecke was then called on to advance courtesy runner Brendon Lewis and he did that with a bunt. Lewis moved up on an error and then scored when pinch-hitter Gavyn Fenwick’s ball was mishandled.
Bullitt Central finally showed some life in the sixth inning. Mason Burton reached on an error and then Cameron Snyder singled back up the middle. Owen Zimmerman followed with an almost identical single up the middle, but this time the ball eluded Holland in center. Rylan Morris, running for Burton, scored and Snyder scored on the error with Zimmerman reached second.
Bowles then opted to make the pitching change, bringing in Litton for Hilton. Litton got a ground ball out with Zimmerman moving to third, but then walked Ryle, who had stayed in the game in right field. The third run scored when 8th-grader Bentley Brown singled through the right side of the infield. The Cougars then loaded the bases when lead-off hitter Easton Burkhardt singled.
Bullitt Central got a bat on the ball when pinch-hitter Trevor Carnes topped a ball down the first base line. Charger first baseman Myers threw home for the force out at the plate but when catcher Channing Bibelhauser threw to first, there was no one there and the ball sailed into right field. That plated both Brown and Burkhardt with Carnes ending up at third base.
However, Bullitt Central left Carnes stranded as Logan Leber flew out.
The top of the seventh was a problem for Waltrip. The senior walked Bo Elder on a full-count and then walked Myers on four pitches. After an out, Feger walked to load the bases.
Ryan then brought in Andrew Davis to pitch. The junior was greeted by Phelps hitting the ball back up the middle to score one run. Davis did get Hilton out but then Warnecke singled to score a pair of runs before Phelps was out at third base.
Bullitt Central opened the bottom of the seventh with a single by Burton and a double by Snyder. Bowles was telling Warnecke at third base that he would be called on to pitch when the next runner reached base, but that never happened as Litton struck-out the last three batters to end the game.
“We had more hits, but our problem all season has been stringing hits together,” Ryan said.
“I do not know if it would have been better in hindsight,” the coach said of the pitching used in this game. “It was foreshadowing. I will think about it for a long time. I wanted to play the guys that wanted to play. But you cannot make excuses.”
Bullitt Central’s season ended with a 20-15 record.
Bullitt East advanced with a 24-11 mark and the meeting with Trinity on Friday.
All-Tournament Selections
Before the team awards were handed out, the players selected to the All-Sixth Region Tournament team were announced.
The Bullitt East players selected were Bradley Myers, Cooper Warnecke, Caden Phelps and Chase Litton. The Bullitt Central players on the honor team included Henry Zimmerman, Mason Burton and Cameron Snyder.
North Bullitt players Rowen Burton and Cody Pendleton were honored to the All-Tournament team following the Eagles’ loss to Bullitt East in the semifinals.