By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
PLEASANT GROVE – The Clay Chalkville Cougars have not had the baseball season they had hoped for, sitting at 1-16 heading into Friday’s game at Pleasant Grove. The Cougars got a much-needed win and they did so in dominant fashion, proving what they can do when all of the pieces come together.
The Cougars jumped out to a big 8-3 lead in the first inning. It all started when Jay Sexton hit a pop fly to second base, but the ball would be dropped and Sexton would be safe on first base. Tyler Griffin would get hit by a Pleasant Grove pitch on the next at bat and Nic Youngblood would come to the plate with 2 runners on. Youngblood would crush a single to center field, driving in Griffin and Sexton to make it 2-0 right out of the gate. After 2 outs, the Cougars would show that they were not done. Austin Ray would single to the pitcher and reach base as Xavier Edwards advanced to third base. With runners at the corners, Richard Cantrell hit a pop fly that would be dropped and Edwards would cross the plate to make it 3-0 Cougars. Malyc Grant would come to the plate with 2 runners on base and hit a double that would drive in Ray and Cantrell. After a walk by Pierce Alexander, Sexton would come up and hit an inside the park home run to bring in Grant and Alexander as well as himself to make it 8-0 before Pleasant Grove even got to the plate. The Spartans would get 3 runs in their chance at bat, but the damage was already done.
The Spartans would win the second inning 2-0 over the Cougars, but the score would still be 8-5 in favor of Clay after 2 innings. In the third, Clay would see Cantrell reach base on a walk and Grant would hit one to shortstop to bring Cantrell home to make it 9-5.
Clay would get another run in the fourth when Kayden Lee drove in Brian Cantrell on a 1-1 pitch when he hit a sacrifice fly. The score after 4 innings would be 10-5 Cougars.
In the fifth inning, the Cougars would pour on more runs after the first three batters (Grant, Alexander and Sexton) would walk to load the bases and then Griffin would be hit by a pitch to bring home Grant and make it 11-5. Youngblood would hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home Alexander. Edwards would walk and K Lee would hit a single that brought home Griffin and Sexton to finish off the scoring for the Cougars.
Xavier Edwards pitched 4 of 5 innings for the Cougars, giving up 5 hits, 5 runs and striking out 4 batters.
The Cougars, now 2-16, look to get their third win of the season Monday night as they welcome Parker.
