July 3, 2012 — The Morehead 9 and 10-year-old All-Star team got off to a good start in district play by defeating Olive Hill and Fleming County in Morehead on Friday and Saturday evening.
On Friday, June 29, the local All-Stars took the field against neighboring Olive Hill.
Nick Eastham led off the top of the first inning with a hard hit single to left field. Bradley Gardner followed Eastham with a long drive to left center field, which bounced over the fence for a ground rule double.
Devon Stevens then followed with a hard hit single to left field, plating Eastham and Gardner. Andrew Hankinson then walked and Preston Adkins followed him with an RBI single to right field, punching Stevens ticket home.
Stevens got the nod on the mound for the locals and sat Olive Hill down in order in the first.
Neither team managed to score again until the fourth, when Olive Hill pushed one run across the plate in the bottom of the fourth. Morehead added some insurance runs in the top of the sixth inning as Evan Lewis got on with a one-out single to right field.
Eastham and Gardner followed with walks and with the bases loaded, Stevens hit a triple deep into the left center field gap, which cleared the bases; a throwing error allowed Stevens to come home himself. Devon Stevens pitched 5 and 1/3 innings of the game, facing 16 batters, striking out 9, while allowing just two hits. He also only gave up one walk. Preston Adkins performed well as the closer in the sixth, holding on to give Morehead the 7-2 victory.
The following evening, Morehead’s boys took the field against an undefeated Fleming County team.
Fleming County jumped on the board early and often by plating five runs on two hits off of three Morehead defensive errors in the first inning.
Morehead was only able to score one run of their own in the first by way of a Bradley Gardner single, followed up with a single by Stevens.
Andrew Hankinson helped to drive in another run when he knocked in Gardner on a fielder’s choice to third.
The Morehead defense then buckled down, but not before Fleming was able to plate three more runs in the third inning.
Morehead’s boys then stepped up to bat in the bottom of the third inning, exploding for 11 runs on an impressive 9 hits. Stevens continued to impress, notching an inside the park home run, which scored Gardner and Nick Eastham.
Andrew Hankinson, Chase Lyons, Will “Boy” Adams, Devin Davidson and Gardner also had big hits on the inning. Bradley Gardner got the win for Morehead on the mound by pitching four innings, giving up 3 hits and striking out three. He also only gave up one walk.
Morehead returns to action again on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at the softball field at the Morehead City Park in the District 6 Championship game.
Members of the All Star team include: Nick Eastham, Gardner, Stevens, Hankinson, Preston Adkins, Lyons, Nick Menard, Davidson, Justin Utterback, Will “Boy” Adams, Lewis, Brien Hill and Nathan Goodpaster.
