63rd District baseball semis: Webb gem: Raceland throws shutout against Lions

LLOYD When the opening game in the 63rd District tournament got underway on Monday, it started looking like a comedy of errors.

By the time the game reached the midpoint, only one team was laughing.

Raceland took down Lewis County, 5-0, in a game defined by errors early and by the Rams scoring later.

“It’s the district tournament and in this district, you’re going to have close games,” Raceland coach Marty Mills said. “I thought both pitchers came out and pitched really well. Brayden (Webb) stayed the course for us on the mound from the start. Then we finally started connecting a few things.”

Lewis County’s bid to return to the 16th Region Tournament for the first time since 2019 came up short.

“It was just execution tonight,” Lewis County coach Sammy Holder said. “You know what Raceland is going to do. They’re so good at what they do, which is why they’re so successful. We prepped for the last three days. It was just the team that blinked first was going to lose.”

Both teams got a runner on base with an error in the first frame before trading 1-2-3 innings in the second.

Lewis County’s Brody Detillion got the first hit of the game in the top of the third inning and reached second after Raceland threw the ball into the visiting dugout.

Webb made sure that was all the Lions would get that inning, striking out the next two batters and forcing a third batter to fly out to center field.

Raceland answered the first hit of the game with the first run of the evening.

The Rams took advantage of three straight errors to get the run in the bottom of the third.

“That’s usually how it is, the team with the fewest mistakes usually wins,” Mills said. “That’s true of every sport, especially in playoff time. Lewis County’s done a really good job this year. Sammy has done great with them, and they were ready to play. We were able to move some pieces around and come out on top.”

Michael Pennington reached first on an error in the lead off position.

Another Lions miscue put Parker Fannin on base and sent Pennington to third.

The third consecutive off the bat of Kadin Shore brought Pennington home.

“Five errors are hard to defend,” Holder said. “Xavier (Prater) did a tremendous job on the mound and Kaysen (Roberts) followed that up. We got runners on but didn’t drive them in. It was just about execution. Raceland did it well and that’s why they’re who they are. But we battled all night.”

The Lions changed their fortunes in the next at-bat.

Detillion caught a line drive from Webb at first base which allowed him to tag the bag to force out Shore who was caught off guard by the sudden catch.

The Lions got a groundout on the next at-bat to escape the inning without further damage and stranded Fannin at third.

Lewis County led off the fourth frame with a double from Kyran Ferguson but left him standing there as Raceland got the next three batters out.

The Rams got their first hits of the game in the bottom of the fourth and were ready to convert them into runs.

Zane Bailey led off with a hit and made his way to second with another Lions error on a ball that was put into play by Parker Ison.

Conner Thacker then blasted a double into deep center field that brought both Bailey and Ison to the plate

Michael Pennington added another run to the board when his hit brought Thacker home.

Pennington got caught up in a double play on the next at-bat after Lions pitcher Colton Tacket caught a line drive and caught Pennington before he could tag up.

The Lions had made a switch at pitcher to start the fifth, bringing in Kaysen Roberts for Prater.

Down 4-0, Colton Tackett led off with a hit but was caught up in a slick 1-6-3 double play after Ferguson hit a ball back toward Webb.

Webb struck out the last batter of the sixth, his sixth punchout of the evening.

Raceland tacked on one more run in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single from Fannin.

The Lions had one last chance to try to climb the 5-0 mountain in front of them, but Webb put a stop to that.

He bookended the frame with a pair of strikeouts to end the game on a 1-2-3 inning.

Webb finished the game with eight strikeouts and gave up just three hits.

“He did great tonight,” Mills said. “Twice we had lead-off guys on second because of some errors and he took care of that, which is huge. He had that 1-6-3 double play. But that’s what he does.“

The loss brings an end to the Lewis County season at 12-17. Holder is thankful for having a group of guys willing to put in the extra effort all year long.

“They answered the call,” Holder said. “Anything we ask of them, they’re always willing to do. They established a culture here. They stick around after practice, always with each other. They’d run through a wall for you. They’re a good group of kids. I’m proud of them.”

With a ticket punched for the region tournament and an eye on a third straight district crown, Mills wants his team to stick with what brought them to the dance.

“Just stay boring,” Mills said with a laugh.

LEWIS CO. 000 000 0 — 0 3 5

RACELAND 001 301 X — 5 6 3

Prater, Roberts (5) and Tackett; Webb and Lynd. W — Webb. L — Prater. 2B — Ferguson (LC), Thacker (R).