Only a few thick blades of grass stood between Thomas Miller and perfection. Instead the Logan County junior southpaw had to settle for a one-hit pitching jewel.

And a championship!

Behind Miller's mound domination, solid infield fielding, timely hitting and a three-run home run by Gage Hales, the Logan County Cougars were in control throughout the game in a 5-0 win over homestanding Russellville in the championship game of the 13^th District baseball tournament.

This was Logan's sixth district championship in 13 years. Franklin-Simpson has won five, and Russellville and Todd Central one each during that time period. Ethan Meguiar has coached the Cougars to a berth in the regional tournament in 12 of those 13 years.

Miller, who has been dominant in most games he has pitched this year, has fought lower back problems all year, and Meguiar said it was starting to tighten on him as the game neared an end, He was especially strong early and late. For the game, he needed only 76 pitches to get the 21 outs.

RHS leadoff hitter Seth Washington flied out to centerfield to start the game, but Miller didn't allow another ball out of the infield off the bats of the other eight Panthers in the batting order the first time through. That string ended when Washington and Thomas Shifflett both flied out to right fielder Brandon Sowell in the fourth. Miller then got the next four batters on a pair of strikeouts and a couple of ground balls to second baseman Cody Hunt.

Sixteen batters had come to the plate and 16 had gone down.

Then junior Tyler Hall, the Panthers' number eight hitter, broke up both the no-hitter and the perfect game. He laid down a bunt along the third base line. Third baseman Ryan Basham and catcher Dustin Cartas pounced toward the ball but gave it a chance to roll foul. It didn't.

Basham picked up the ball and hurriedly threw to slick fielding freshman first baseman Caleb Bruner. The throw was on target but low and Bruner couldn't scoop it up. Hall was safe. The perfect game was gone. Most veteran baseball observers, including Meguiar, said it had to be ruled a hit.

“If Bruner could have gotten the ball in his glove, then the (safe or out) call would have been up to the umpire, but …,” Meguiar said without finishing what might have been.

Miller didn't let the setback faze him. He struck out Jacob Proctor, Washington, Caleb Wills and Shifflett in order before ending the game on a popup by cleanup hitter Barrett Croslin to Bruner. He finished the one-hit shutout with eight strikeouts, no walks and only three outfield flies.

The leadoff hitter for the Cougars scored the only run they would need in the first innings. Hales reached on an infield error, advanced on Dustin Nash's sacrifice bunt, and scored on a solid single by cleanup hitter Ryan Harper.

Bruner got a 2-out single in the second. Starting Panther pitcher Crewsden Kemp's pitch hit Basham in the leg, but plate umpire Grant Burkeen ruled that Basham didn't make enough of an effort to get out of the way and refused to award him the base. Kemp then got Basham out on a fly ball.

Nash walked and scored in the third. Kemp loaded the bases on walks to Cartas and Harper, and designated hitter Ian Woodall got the RBI on a sacrifice fly. Hall also walked but Kemp induced Sowell to pop out to second baseman Zach Denney to limit the damage. It was 3-0 after three.

Kemp wasn't as fortunate in the fourth inning. Bruner led off with his second hit. Basham sacrificed, but Kemp couldn't field it cleanly, putting two runners on. Then Hales powered his 3-run shot over the left field fence to make it 5-0. Coach Lou Kendall elected to stay with Kemp, and Kemp rewarded his trust by retiring the heart of the Cougar batting order in order.

Kendall, who was coaching his final game at Kelly Russell Field after almost 30 years as the Panthers' head coach, pulled a surprise move. Instead of bringing in Wills or Denny to pitch, he called on Shifflett to pitch for the first time this year. Shifflett was the Panthers' number two pitcher as a freshman and a sophomore behind workhorse Darrin Murphy, but he was not able to throw his entire junior year. After major reconstructive surgery last summer, he has been one of the top batters in the region this season but had not pitched.

Shifflett's pitches were hard but a little low early, but he got better and better as he went. The only baserunner he allowed in the fifth came on a walk to Sowell. He struck out Basham to start the seventh, but walked Hales. After striking out Nash, he gave up a single to the veteran Cartas. Hales sped toward third, but Panther rightfielder Hall threw a strike to third baseman Zach Lee, who applied the tag to end the Cougars' offense for the night.

Tournament Notes:

Russellville's Corey Wright had pitched the Panthers into the finals, shutting out favored Franklin-Simpson 2-0 the night before. The Wildcats had beaten the Panthers in the two regular season encounters earlier in the year. Wright was the RHS first baseman in the finals. Wills homered in the win.

Nash, who has been one of the Cougars' top two pitchers most of his high school career, pitched Logan's 10-1 win over Todd Central Tuesday.

The only reserve to play for the champions was senior Brice Moore, who served as a courtesy runner for Cartas.

Four starters in the district championship game were members of the Logan County Little League All-Stars who made history by reaching the 2009 Little League World Series. They were Croslin and Denney for Russellville and Bruner and Woodall for Logan. Most likely, Matt Harper would have joined them in the Logan starting lineup, but he tore up a knee midway through the season. He was a starter last year as an eighth grader.

The other five players on that World Series roster also played baseball this year. Tucker Baldwin, Daniel Beatty, Joe Holliday and Jacob Wood were on the Cougars varsity. Desmond Quarles, the lone 11-year-old on that team, broke a bone very early in the RHS season and didn't return. There is some question if he will return to baseball next year, since his future appears to be in football.

The Fourth Region Tournament will be played Monday, Memorial Day, at Western Kentucky University. The Panthers will have the best record in the field at 28-9. The team with the second best record and tournament favorite Bowling Green (27-7) was upset by South Warren (19-13) in the 14^th District finals. As a result, Logan (24-11) could draw the Purples in the opening round.

All-District

Twelve outstanding players in the district during the season were chosen by the coaches. The top three schools landed four players each on the honor squad. They were as follows:

Logan County: Dustin Cartas, Ryan Harper, Thomas Miller and Dustin Nash

Russellville: Thomas Shifflett, Seth Washington, Caleb Wills, Corey Wright

Franklin-Simpson: Dalton James, Dylan Jones, Jonathan Pedigo, Zach Thomas