Wildcats roll with 4 wins on week

With only five games remaining in the regular season, the Livingston Academy baseball team has set itself as the team to beat in the district, and is sporting a fine 17-4 overall record and 7-1 in the district.

“We felt like we would be good this season,” senior Zach Cotterman stated early in the week, “and I don’t think we’ve left any doubts. We’re hitting the ball well, scoring a lot of runs, our pitching has been outstanding, and we’ve really cut down on mental mistakes including errors.”

And the team has the statistics to back up everything Cotterman said.

Just last week, the team rolled to four straight wins, scoring 27 runs on 31 hits, giving up only six runs, and only two of those were earned. In the pitching department, Carson Parrott went 7 innings in an 8-2 win over White County last Monday night to get the week off on a good start. He struck out 14 and only walked one runner.

The next night, Dawson Ledbetter took the mound at home against the Warriors, went 7 innings, struck out 6, walked only 3, and gave up no earned runs. Livingston won that one 3-2.

Thursday night, the Cats traveled to Clay County and won easily, 14-2, with Ethan Westmoreland, Corbin Bournes, and Drew Goolsby splitting the pitching assignments. Westmoreland was the pitcher of record with 8 strikeouts, 5 walks, and 2 earned runs.

And to round out the week, Goolsby went the entire 7 innings Friday night at home on Senior Night, striking out 7 and walking 3 in a 4-0 shutout win over Monterey.

“It has been a good week for us,” Head Coach Jamie Loftis pointed out before Friday’s game. “We’ve played well, got good pitching, and hit the ball really good, but next week with two district games against Upperman, we will have to be on top of our game. They are good.”

The Wildcats started the week on the road at Sparta. Parrott took the mound and pitched an outstanding game, giving up only two unearned runs in the 8-2 win. Dylan York was the big bat in the game, getting three hits and driving in three runs. Parrott had a hit and an RBI while Ethan Hooks drove in two runs, scored once, and had two runs batted in.

White County came to Livingston the next night and brought a much better team before dropping a one-run, 3-2, decision.

The visitors led 1-0 going to the bottom of the fifth inning where Livingston scored three times to take the lead and the eventual win. Ledbetter led off the inning with a single, and Junior Steele came in as a courtesy runner. RP Campbell bunted Steele to second, then Hooks singled scoring Steele. Drayk Blankenship walked, and Cotterman delivered the winning blow, a double scoring Hooks and Blankenship.

The 14-2 win at Clay County was easier than it appeared as the Cats scored almost any time they wanted to, taking a 1-0 lead in the first, scoring two more in the second, two in the fourth, three in the sixth, and six in the seventh in a game that lasted close to three hours.

York had three hits and drove in four runs while Parrott scored four times, got two hits, and drove in two. Tayshawn Hayes had a pair of runs batted in while Westmoreland, Goolsby, and Bournes handled the pitching chores, giving up only two earned runs, striking out eight.

After Senior Night ceremonies Friday night, the Cats went to work on a strong Monterey team, got a shutout pitching performance from Goolsby, and posted a 4-0 shutout, ending the week with four impressive wins.

A pair of doubles, one by Ledbetter in the second and one by Campbell in the third, produced the four winning runs and sent the Wildcats against a strong Upperman team on Monday and Tuesday to decide the regular season championship.