The Daviess County Little League 11U All-Star team won the District 1 Championship for the second consecutive season by defeating Warren County South. The squad will head to Corbin on July 19 to compete for the state title with hopes of avenging last year’s one-run loss in extra innings to Morehead.
It was a team effort as Luke Abbot earned the win on the mound while Owen Gaynor had the big stick with two RBIs.
Head coach Kyle Watkins said his team started slow in the tournament opener, losing 4-0 to the same team they later defeated in the championship. They finished strong, defeating Warren County North 11-6 in the second round of pool play, before defeating a strong Bowling Green East team 5-0 in the semifinals.
“We finally started to get our bats on the ball and score some runs,” Watkins said. “Luke did a great job mixing in several pitches and working the strike zone today, and our defense came to play, which we knew they would have to do.”
This team is nearly identical to last year’s, which suffered a narrow defeat in 8 innings in the state championship. With more experience under the belt, Watkins said his team is eager to compete for the title.
“These kids love to compete and want to win,” he said. “And, when they’re playing like they did today, they’re hard to beat. The greatest thing is all of our kids want to win every single pitch, and that makes them fun to coach. They’ve worked hard the last three weeks and are ready to do that again.”
Daviess County was the first team on the scoreboard after a Carson Ashby double and Gaynor single in the bottom of the first. Ashby scored the third and final run in the fourth after another Gaynor single.
Bennett Mason, Carter Maffia, and Justin Maxey each added base hits for the squad.
Due to the close nature of the contest, there were also several momentum-shifting plays, including a line drive that Zach Falloway caught and converted into a double play. Jake Watkins also secured a big backhanded stop at third to prevent the tying and potentially go-ahead runs from scoring.
“This is a really fun group to coach,” Watkins said. “They do everything we ask them to do. It’s an all-star team, and some guys aren’t playing as much as they typically would, but everyone has found their role and bought into it. I’m excited to see what we can do at state.”
