I don't suppose anyone who actually attended the game could provide some details? :sssh:

 

Very good game overall. St X scored one in the second and one in the 4th or 5th to go up 2-0. SK scored 2 in the bottom of the 5th to tie it. StX pushed 3 across in the top of the 7th to seal the deal.

 

This is going by memory so it may be a bit off but I will try to fill in some details.

Key plays were StX's lead off hitter turning a double into a triple on a bobble to score their 1st or 2nd run.

SK scores 2 in the 5th but they have runners on 1st & 2nd with one out. The ball kicks away from the catcher the runner on 2nd breaks but realizes it didn't get far enough away so gets thrown out trying to get back to second.

Top7 PH single to start the 7th. Next batter hits one hard up the middle on the 2nd base side. SK's 2nd baseman gets to it but can't make what would have been a very good play to turn two. Instead 1st & 3rd no outs with the meat of StX's order coming up.

Bottom 7 lead off hitter for SK lofts one down the left field line in no mans land and the StX left fielder makes a terrific diving play to stop any chance of a SK comeback. That play really took the wind out of their sails.

State played on turf. X has a turf field.

 

Legends field sure looked like natural grass to me.

Legends field sure looked like natural grass to me.

 

Whitaker bank park is an all natural surface.

 

So the assertion that a turf field helped St X is not true. Different surfaces.

Congrats to St X. Question. How many state titles is this for them and what do you mean by the all turf field finally paying off? Just curious.

When St Xavier built their football stadium, they also added a baseball diamond with artificial turf. The field measures 340' down the lines and the outfield is large enough for a regulation football field and is used for football practice.

The primary advantage of turf is the extra practice. Teams with grass fields cant practice as much, especially early in the season, when the weather is bad. X practices 3 hours a day, and early in the season it was often on days when other fields were too wet to play on.

The primary advantage of turf is the extra practice. Teams with grass fields cant practice as much, especially early in the season, when the weather is bad. X practices 3 hours a day, and early in the season it was often on days when other fields were too wet to play on.

 

SK uses their football field at the beginning of the season.

From Cincinnati Enquirer:LEXINGTON – Senior first baseman Hayden Ford is perhaps the most dangerous hitter in the St. Xavier baseball team's lineup, but Simon Kenton was forced to walk a batter intentionally with one out in the top of the seventh inning of Saturday's state championship game to face him and Ford made the Pioneers pay.

 

Ford, who hit .349 with a team-high four homers and 23 RBI in the regular season and was 4 for 8 with three RBI in the first three games of the state tournament, bounced a one-out, bases-loaded single up the middle against a drawn-in infield to break a 2-2 tie and lift St. Xavier past Simon Kenton to an eventually 5-2 win in the state championship game before a crowd of 2,211 at Whitaker Bank Ballpark.

 

"He did his job," said Simon Kenton coach Troy Roberts, who is in his third season as head coach. "With the infield in he had to put the ball in play and hits a four-hopper up the middle. He didn't hit it hard he did what he was supposed to do."

St. Xavier (30-10), which finished the regular season ranked No. 3 in the state coaches' poll, won its sixth state title, tying it with DuPont Manual and Owensboro for most in state history, but its first since 1981.

 

Unranked Simon Kenton (25-17), which had been 7-7 at one point this season, was appearing in its first state tournament in school history and trying to duplicate the surprising run to a state championship like the 1981 Simon Kenton basketball team made in its first state tournament appearance.

 

Roberts was asked what he would have said if someone had told him back on March 1 that he would be tied in the seventh inning of the state championship game.

 

"I'd have called you crazy," said Roberts.

 

Junior Sean Lawrence, who threw 162 pitches in Simon Kenton's 3-1 nine-inning win over Anderson County in the Eighth Region championship but had been limited to three innings of scoreless relief in his lone outing of the state tournament, went the distance for Simon Kenton. He allowed eight hits and two walks and struck out seven. Only two of the runs he allowed were earned.

 

Pinch-hitter Aaron Grammer led off the seventh for St. Xavier with a single to left-center and the player he hit for, Tristan Purcell, re-entered the game and ran for him. Purcell broke for second on a hit-and-run play and Sam Springer hit the ball up the middle right to Simon Kenton second baseman Grant Wassom who was running to cover the base, but the ball bounced off his glove for an error and into the outfield allowing Purcell to race to third.

 

"I know Grant's going to beat himself up over that, but he shouldn't," said Roberts. "I think he's made one error at second base all year (he also plays left field depending on who pitches) and he was trying to make a play. If he had it to do all over again we'd just have him field it and throw over to first and get the out rather than think about the double play, but you don't get to go back and do it over."

 

Springer then stole second and one out later Andrew McCormick was walked intentionally to load the bases for Ford. McCormick, who was selected tournament Most Valuable Player, was 2 for 3 in the game and went 6 for 12 with three doubles five runs and two RBI. Ford was also selected to the all-tournament team.

 

St. Xavier added another run in the inning on a sacrifice fly.

 

Trailing 2-0 heading to the bottom of the fifth, Simon Kenton scored two times off the second of three St. Xavier pitchers, Cam Revelette, to tie the score. Revelette, who entered the game with a 7-1 record and a 1.75 ERA, had replaced St. Xavier starter Connor Underwood, who entered the game with a 7-1 record and 1.51 ERA, to start the fourth. Underwood, who was selected to the all-tournament team, allowed just three hits and one walk and stranded a Simon Kenton runner in scoring position in each of his three innings.

 

Simon Kenton also stranded a runner in scoring position in the fourth against Revelette and was 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position in the first four innings. The Pioneers had gone 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position in Monday's 2-1 first-round win over Southwestern and 0 for 10 in their 1-0, 10-inning quarterfinal win over Hazard that started on Wednesday night and concluded Thursday afternoon due to a lightning delay.

 

Senior right fielder Travis Bryson started the bottom of the fifth by reaching on an infield single. He stole second with one out and scored on senior catcher Michael Mundy's single to center. Lawrence followed with a base hit to left field to move courtesy runner Zach Davis to second, and Davis scored on senior third baseman Tyler Smith's bloop single to center, which knocked Revelette out of the game. Smith was 8 for 14 in the state tournament and was one of three Pioneers selected to the all-tournament team along with Munday and pitcher Tristen Marcum, who had complete-game wins in both the first round and in the semifinals.

 

"I really thought we were going to win at that point," said Roberts.

 

The Pioneers had a chance to score more in the inning, but Lawrence's courtesy runner Jacob Harney was picked off second by St. Xavier catcher Dalton Dedas and junior center fielder Price Burge, who had singled and walked his first two times up, lined back to relief pitcher Josh Finerty, who pitched 1 1/3 innings to get the win. Scott Spurlock pitched the seventh to earn the save.

 

"I knew we would come back," said Lawrence. "We're not quitters. We don't stop fighting. We're a gritty team and you can't get rid of us."

 

St. Xavier had a chance to take the lead back in the top of the sixth when McCormick led off with a double, Miles Lee walked with one out and Avery Lane reached on an infield single one out later to load the bases. Lawrence proceeded to strike out Dedas, the No. 8 hitter, to end the inning.

 

St. Xavier had taken a 2-0 lead with a run in the first and another in the third, both sparked by hits from Springer, the team's leadoff batter. He singled to open the game, was sacrificed to second and scored on a single by McCormick. Leading off the third, Springer hit a line drive on which Burge tried to make a sliding catch, but the ball glanced off his glove and was scored as a triple. Springer then scored on a wild pitch.

 

Simon Kenton stranded a runner at second with two outs in the first, runners at first and second with one out in the second, a runner at third with two outs in the third and after having a runner at second with one out in the fourth had a ground out move him to third and ground out end that threat.

 

The Pioneers appeared to have scored a run in the third when Wassom singled with one out, then one out later stole second and was originally ruled home when a wild pitch rolled into the Simon Kenton dugout. He was called back out of the dugout and sent back to third where he was stranded.

 

"We just worked so hard and to come up short just sucks. It really does," said Smith. "I hope this begins a tradition of SK baseball. I hope the kids below us learned a lot. We showed people that we can play baseball and hopefully SK is on the map now for baseball."

SK uses their football field at the beginning of the season.

 

As does Dixie.

Congrats to St. X on their state championship. Congrats to the Pioneers on a great season. The bar has been set high for the younger 'Neers.

Congrats to St. X on their state championship. Congrats to the Pioneers on a great season. The bar has been set high for the younger 'Neers.

 

Good year all the way around for SK.

 

Regional Finals in: boys basketball, girls basketball, football, and volleyball

 

Regional champs in: baseball and track

 

State Runner Up in baseball

Good year all the way around for SK.

 

Regional Finals in: boys basketball, girls basketball, football, and volleyball

 

Regional champs in: baseball and track

 

State Runner Up in baseball

 

SK did pretty good in wrestling also.

Maybe he's referring to Independent school districts (Cov., Bchwd., Ft.Tms., Nwpt., Dytn., Blvw., etc.), IDK.

 

Oh, I am sure that is what he was referring to. I get tired of people who think an independent is different than any other public school. The only difference is independent high schools have a smaller area to pull students from. What is the advantage in that?

Oh, I am sure that is what he was referring to. I get tired of people who think an independent is different than any other public school. The only difference is independent high schools have a smaller area to pull students from. What is the advantage in that?

 

I have this argument at least once per month outside of BGP. People have no clue.

 

Congrats to X on the Championship and to SK on a great season.

Oh, I am sure that is what he was referring to. I get tired of people who think an independent is different than any other public school. The only difference is independent high schools have a smaller area to pull students from. What is the advantage in that?

 

Now wait a minute-they may have a smaller area to pull from. I don't know, but then they also can accept paying tuition students from outside of their area if the students inside of their area do not fill that particular class to capacity. In that, I do see an advantage for the independents over the public schools.

Now wait a minute-they may have a smaller area to pull from. I don't know, but then they also can accept paying tuition students from outside of their area if the students inside of their area do not fill that particular class to capacity. In that, I do see an advantage for the independents over the public schools.

 

History, come on now. You have been active on here for quite a while. Any public school has the same option to accept out of district students. If they choose not to, that is their choice. And I don't think it is accurate to label it independents and public. If you want to differentiate, then it is independent districts and county districts - they are all public school districts.