The district Little League Tournament experience for the 11-12-year-old Logan County All-Stars was a mixture of great highs and deep disappointments. The deepest downer came when the tying and winning runs were stranded on base in the championship game.
After starting 2-0 (see previous stories on The LoJo), Logan lost 10-3 to Owensboro Southern as Coach Ethan Meguiar’s team left 11 men on base, including stranding six runners in the fifth and sixth innings in bases-loaded situations.
The Logan runs scored in the third inning as Dalton Dean walked and the team got four straight singles. The 2-0 lead didn’t hold up, though. Dylan Penick and Dean each had three hits while Jacob Smock added two and Braxton Meguiar one.
Dean was the starting pitcher while Parker White, Macon Barrow and Third Bell all relieved.
Logan County 11, Bowling Green East 0
This impressive beatdown of previously unbeaten East made Logan the top seed in its pool.
Penick pitched the complete game shutout, giving up three this and two walks while striking out seven in five innings.
White and Penick scored in the first inning for all the runs Logan would need. Smock doubled in Dean, and Bell singled in Smock to make it 4-0 in the third. In a seven-run fifth inning, Penick blasted a three-run homer and Bell hit a two=run shot.
Meguiar, Penick, Dean, Smock and Bell each had two hits with Blake Wood adding one.
Because Logan gave up the fewest runs allowed among the contenders, the top seed was theirs.
Ohio County 9, Logan County 8
Logan got off to a great start when Meguiar homered as the leadoff batter. He also scored the second run on a walk, a Penick single, and a passed ball, but Ohio County jumped out to an 8-2 lead on a trio of two-run homers. Logan came back and pulled to within 8-7 in the fifth. Ohio added an insurance run in its last at-bat.
Penick scored the eighth run on Smock’s single. Logan had runners on first and second representing the tying and winning runs, but couldn’t get the winning hit.
Penick finished with three hits, including the homer, while Meguiar, Smock, Barrow and Austin Rager added one each.
White and Meguiar were the pitchers. Each gave up five hits, but six of the runs came off White, who was having to elevate his pitches to get strike calls.
“The loss was disappointing, but we had 12 kids who worked hard for three weeks and it was a great experience for all of us,” says Assistant Coach Kevin White.