North Clay/Clay City Advances To Championship Game

PEORIA -- North Clay/Clay City rattled the bats Friday and defeated LeRoy 15-2 in five innings at the Class 1A State Baseball Tournament at Dozer Park. The game was heard on KJ Country 102.3 and www.kjcountry.com. 

The Cardinals were nothing short of amazing as every batter in the lineup got a hit except one and that batter, Carson Burkett, drew three walks in four at bats and scored a run.

Collyn Ballard led off the first for the Cardinals with a triple and came home on a sacrifice fly by Logan Fleener.

LeRoy came back in the bottom of the frame to tie the score as Noah Company singled and later came home on a ground out by Blake Roundtree.

Then it was a huge second inning for North Clay/Clay City. The Cardinals batted around with singles by Dakota Weidner and Layton Dawkins who drove in two runs and a double by Fleener. Scoring in the frame were Ballard, Fleener, Burkett, Weidner and Dawkins. Holden Clifton drew a walk as did Burkett.

LeRoy scored a second run in the bottom of the frame. Garrett Hudson reached on an error. With one out, Tyson Brent singled Hudson home.

Things were quiet in the third for both teams with North Clay/Clay City going up and down in the frame and LeRoy garnering one baserunner on a single by Company.

But the Cardinals had a victory on their collective minds in the fifth. In the frame, seven Cardinals touched the plate. Weidner doubled, Dawkins reached on an error and Bryton Griffy singled home a run. Ballard drew a walk and Fleener singled home two runs. With one out, Brady Ingram singled home a run followed by Donnie Zimmerman who aided his cause on the mound with a double and drove in two runs.

Dawkins came to bat for the second time and singled and Griffy also singled, driving in a run for his second at-bat in the inning. LeRoy finally got out of the frame but only after North Clay/Clay City had tallied eight runs to lead 15-2.

And that's where the scoring ended. Zimmerman took the mound and LeRoy players fell by the wayside as he struck out all three batters.

"The kids played amazing," said North Clay/Clay City Coach John Frech. "They wanted it more than anything.

"We scored but LeRoy came back to punch us in the face but we didn't give in. Today we had no weak spots. Everyone competed. We knew their pitcher was a high volume strike guy. But we got some huge hits at the right time."

Zimmerman went the distance allowing two runs on five hits, one walk while striking out six.

"Donnie was a bulldog," said Frech. "He competed and kept throwing strikes. There is no better competition in the state than in our area and in our conference."

All nine players scored at least one run for the Cardinals with Ballard and Dawkins crossing the plate three times each.

North Clay/Clay City now sports a 32-6 record while LeRoy dropped to 24-10 on the season.

The Cardinals will now face Mount Sterling (Brown County) at 11:30 a.m. Saturday for the state championship. LeRoy dropped into the third place contest to face Ottawa Marquette at 9 a.m. for third place. Hear the championship game on KJ Country 102.3 and www.kjcountry.com. 

Class 1A State Tournament

North Clay                150    18    --    15-13-0

LeRoy                       110    00    --      2-5-4

WP -- Zimmerman. LP -- Conn.

North Clay -- Ballard, triple; Fleener, single, double, 3 RBI; H. Clifton, double; Ingram, 2 singles, 1 RBI; Zimmerman, double, 3 RBI; Weidner, single, double, 1 RBI; Dawkins, 2 singles, 2 RBI; Griffy, 2 singles,2 RBI

LeRoy -- Company, 2 singles; Roundtree, 1 RBI; Johnson, single; Brent, single, 1 RBI; Satchwell, single