CLEVELAND 17, CENTRAL 4Central 001 30 - 4 5 6Cleveland 325 7x - 17 11 3WP: Reed Allison (1-0). LP: Colton Morgan. 3B: Jeb Scoggins (Cl). 2B: Derek Murray, Jesse Jones, Adam Taylor (Cl); Dominique Dawson, Dylan Jones (Cen). Highlights: Scoggins 3-3, 4 runs, RBI; Jones 3-3, 2 runs, RBI; Robert Parr 2-4, 4 runs, RBI; Caleb Hiddleson 2-4, 4 RBIs (Cl); Dawson, Josh Rievely each 2-4; Dylan Jones 1-2, 3 RBIs. Records: Cleveland 9-5, Central 7-11.
The bat a handful of Cleveland players have been using has been good to them and the trio that was using "Black Betty" Sunday afternoon collected six hits and three walks in the Blue Raiders' 17-4 victory.
The five-inning win also netted them the Central Invitational championship.
"Black Betty" is an Easton Stealth, but Cleveland could have used a whiffle ball bat the way the Blue Raiders were swinging.
"I like the way we hit the ball," coach Ted Carson said. "Although we let them try to scramble back into it, I thought Reed Allison did a good job for his first time out and then Dylan Humble did a good job in relief."
Allison (1-0) had not pitched since a handful of appearances last season, but pitched into the fourth when the host Pounders scored three of their runs thanks to a pair of back-to-back errors, a walk and a bases-loaded double by Dylan Jones. Allison gave up four hits but no earned runs. Humble, the Raiders No. 2 starter, pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, leaving the bases loaded to end the fourth. He got the first two batters in the fifth before giving up back-to-back singles and then inducing a weak fielders-choice grounder to third to end the game.
Jeb Scoggins and Jesse Jones were Cleveland's top offensive performers, each getting three hits. Scoggins, who's scheduled to start tonight against Soddy-Daisy in a key District 5-AAA game, led off the game with a triple and also scored four of the Blue Raiders' runs. Batting No. 2, Robert Parr also reached base safely five times, going 2-for-4 and combining with Scoggins to give Cleveland eight of its runs. Scoggins and Parr also contributed solo RBIs.
Jones reached in his first appearance on a two-out intentional walk to load the bases. Central coach Glen Carter's plan worked to near perfection as the next batter grounded to short, but the ball was booted, letting in the first two runs of the game.
"Cleveland did what it needed to in order to win the game," Carter said. "They hit the ball and they made the plays. We didn't hit the ball, and we sure didn't make plays."
The Pounders were charged with six errors and Cleveland took full advantage, scoring at least one run because of each of those errors.
"You play well enough to get into a championship game and it's like 'Gee, we made a championship game.' It's like we're satisfied just getting to a Sunday afternoon game and we just go through the motions," Carter said.
Cleveland also got a multi-hit game from catcher Caleb Hiddleson, whose two singles accounted for four more Cleveland runs.
Dominique Dawson and Josh Rievely each got two hits and Dylan Jones had a bases-loaded double for the Purple Pounders.