Walk-off winner

Keenan James was left smacking the dirt in the fifth inning.
In the seventh, he turned that frustration into elation.
James’ line drive over the head of left fielder Landon Harris plated Jason Houston, breaking a scoreless tie Saturday to give Jay County a 1-0, walk-off win over Heritage in the championship game of the Patriot Invitational.
“That felt pretty good,” said James. “I’m pretty excited right now.
“Landry (Inman) threw really well. I’m just proud of my whole team.”
Inman, Jay County’s starter, and Kyle Macke of Heritage were locked in a pitchers’ duel, neither allowing a runner to get past second base for the first six-and-a-half innings. Mistakes opened the door for host JCHS in the seventh.
Kyle Selvey reached first base on an infield single when no one covered first base on his grounder to the right side, and then Houston took his place on first on a fielder’s choice. Macke bounced back to get a strikeout for the second out of the inning, but Houston was able to advance to second base on an errant pickoff throw and then to third on a wild pitch.
After getting caught on a 1-3-6 pickoff in the fifth inning, James was ready to redeem himself.
“I felt like I had to do something to not let our team down,” James said. “Coach told me not to do too much, so I was just trying to keep my swing short and get a base hit.”
James hit a line shot to left field that zoomed over Harris’ head. Houston was so excited in the moment that he missed home plate, needing to backtrack to touch it and give his team the winning run.
Assistant coach Josh Shatto high-fived James before the junior trotted back up the first-base line for a chest bump with Selvey (two hits) that sparked a full team celebration.
“I’m just happy as all get out for these guys because they’ve just worked and worked and worked,” said JCHS coach Lea Selvey, whose team improved to 14-11. “It’s an awesome feeling.”
Inman got the win as he shut out Heritage on five hits. He struck out three batters, and his teammates came up with a couple of double plays behind him.
“Landry did an outstanding job,” said Selvey. “He was changing speeds well. He had all three pitches going today.
“He looked sharper today than he’s looked for a while.”
Macke took the loss despite giving up just five hits.
Heritage (17-6) had beaten New Haven 4-2 in its semifinal game of the tournament for its eighth win in a row. It had won 13 of its last 14 games, with its only loss since May first coming at Class 3A No. 2 Norwell.
“You can’t beat anybody if you don’t score any runs,” said Heritage coach Dean Lehrman. “We’ve got to find a cure for our offensive woes right now. We haven’t been hitting the ball very well for a long time.”
Jay County dominated in its 11-4 semifinal win over the Cowan Blackhawks, scoring 10 times in the first two innings.
Seven of the first eight JCHS batters reached base in the bottom of the first inning, with Chandler Jacks delivering the key hit with a two-run single.
Toby McCallister and Landry Inman each had RBI singles in the second inning.
James led the offense in the opener as he finished 3-for-3 with a double, an RBI and three runs. Alex Dunn and Tanner Reynolds each had two hits and two runs.
“We were able to do some things then, once we got up, that we need to do like the hit and runs or the bunts,” said Selvey. “We’re starting to figure things out a little bit.”
Wesley Hibbard celebrated his birthday with a victory as he opened the game against Cowan with four scoreless innings. The Blackhawks tagged him for four runs in the fifth inning, three of which came on a three-run home run by Jon Miller.
But Hibbard bounced back and retired Cowan one-two-three in the sixth inning before giving way to Chaz Carroll in the seventh.
“They just played two of the better games of the year,” said Selvey, whose team closes the regular season at Bluffton today before opening tournament play Thursday against the Huntington North Vikings. “Hopefully we’re peaking at the right time. …
“I think it was important for these guys to beat a very good team.
“We’ll have to play like this again, but now they know they can do it.”[[In-content Ad]]