Published: July 02, 2009 02:28 am      

DISTRICT V: Favored HYR 11-12s crush three home runs, Silver Creek in impressive debut

CLARKSVILLE — Highlander Youth Recreation’s 11-12-year-old All Stars may very well be considered the favorite in their division. In their opener, it took exactly three pitches to understand why.

Brandon Smith crushed the third offering from Silver Creek pitcher Jake Steele over the fence, Trey Fulton followed with a blast of his own and HYR never looked back in a 6-1 victory in the Little League Division V tournament opener for both teams on Wednesday at the Clarksville Little League Park.

“We have to play great baseball,” said HYR coach Rick Fulton, whose team has won DV titles the past two seasons to earn its lofty status. “Everyone wants to beat us and we have to come out expecting the very best of our opponents.”

Silver Creek (0-1) stayed within striking distance throughout, but could never overcome the smashing debut delivered by Smith. His homer easily cleared the fence in right-center and ended up through the windshield of a parked car. Just as the clamor died down, Trey Fulton delivered a bomb of his own for a 2-0 HYR lead.

“We know they’re an excellent team,” said Silver Creek coach Chris Aria. “They have no holes and talent at every position.”

While the offense was there from the start, Trey Fulton just as in control on the mound. He tossed all six innings, giving up just two hits and striking out 14 en route to the win.

“Trey and their power pitchers do worry us,” said Silver Creek’s Jacob Quinkert. “They’re hard to hit and we know we aren’t going to score a lot of runs against them — we needed to hold them in the first few innings.”

Still, Quinkert did manage to get a run across in the bottom of the first. He smacked a lead-off double — the only extra-base hit allowed by Fulton — before moving to third on a passed ball and scoring on a wild pitch.

But HYR went back to its power game to pull away, tacking on two runs in the third and two more in the fifth. Wyatt Cherry delivered the big bomb, hitting a lead-off homer in the fifth that made it 5-1.

While Silver Creek failed to put together much of a threat against Fulton, Aria said he was proud of his pitchers — Steele and Cameron Cook, who entered in the fifth — even if their efforts didn’t neccesarily show up on the scoreboard.

“I thought both of them pitched well,” Aria said. “You don’t like the three home runs, but (HYR) is going to do that. They’re going to get theirs and our pitchers stood in there and threw pretty well.’



13-14 BASEBALL

• HYR rallies with late surge: HYR’s 13-14 baseball team tacked on three runs in the top of the seventh inning and then hung on for a 9-6 win over Charlestown in the tourney debut for both clubs.

Things could have transpired differently if not for a key call in the fifth. Charlestown’s Darren Taylor was given a warning and called out for interference after going back to third forcefully. He could have scored the go-ahead run for Charlestown on the play.

HYR actually trailed 4-2 after the first inning before settling down and reclaiming the lead. Mike Springer went 2-for-3, drew a walk and scored three key runs in HYR’s close shave.

“This tournament is all about getting wins, no matter how ugly they are,” said HYR coach Bryan Smith, whose team struck out 10 times. “That’s not the way you want to start the district playoffs, but we’ll take the win.”



11-12 SOFTBALL

• Cato leads HYR over C-town: HYR followed up an impressive debut win over Clarksville earlier this week by taking down Charlestown 6-2 to take control of the 11-12 softball standings at 2-0.

Caroline Cato went 3-for-3 with a double and Katelin Dreher followed a big performance against Clarksville by adding a triple for HYR.



STARS OF THE NIGHT

11-12 baseball

Trey Fulton, HYR: complete game, 14 strikeouts, solo home run

Brandon Smith and Wyatt Cherry, HYR: solo home runs



13-14 baseball

Mike Springer, HYR: 2-for-3, thre runs, walk