KHSAA Sixth Region baseball: Kendall Henson no-hits Fern Creek as Bullitt East wins title

Kendall Henson and the Bullitt East High School baseball team put their recent postseason demons in the past Friday night.

Henson hurled a no-hitter and struck out 12 to lead the Chargers to a 3-0 victory over Fern Creek in the championship game of the Sixth Region Tournament at the University of Louisville’s Jim Patterson Stadium.

Bullitt East (22-13-1) captured its first regional title since 2016, having lost in the final in 2018, 2019 and 2022. In last year’s 2-1 loss to DeSales, Henson was the losing pitcher, allowing two runs in 1 2/3 innings of work.

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“That was a bad taste in his mouth all year long,” Bullitt East coach Jeff Bowles said. “Every time he worked out, he was thinking about the regional final last year. We looked at some different pitching scenarios, and I was like, ‘We’d be idiots not to give him the ball.’ Ride him as long as we can.”

Henson walked three but was in control all night, never letting a Tiger past second base. The junior right-hander struck out the final four batters of the game.

Henson (9-0) also got the complete-game victory in the Chargers’ 5-3 win over Fern Creek in the 24th District final on May 17, allowing three runs and four hits.

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“I just knew what they were going to do,” Henson said. “Just strike them out, get them out. I relied on the change-up and curveball mostly.”

Fern Creek (15-17) knocked off perennial power Pleasure Ridge Park 7-2 in the quarterfinals and won an 11-10 barnburner over Bullitt Central in Wednesday’s semifinals before falling in the regional final for the second time in three years.

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“I’m optimistic for next year, and I think we have a chance to be back here again,” Stout said. “We have to get over the hump.”

Senior center fielder Dax Raney was the Chargers’ spark plug on offense.

In the first inning, Raney singled, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, stole third and scored on Landon Troklus’ single to give the Chargers a 1-0 lead.

Raney’s RBI single in the second inning gave Bullitt East a 2-0 lead, and he added an RBI double in the fourth to make it 3-0. Raney finished 4-for-4 with three stolen bases.

“He makes us go,” Bowles said. “He’s our guy.”

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Henson took care of the rest, improving to 3-0 with a 1.47 ERA in three postseason starts this year. He’s struck out 23 in 19 innings.

Bowles said Henson’s fastball maxed out at 82-83 mph.

“We’ll take 95 if we can get it, but we don’t have it,” Bowles said. “So if you’re throwing 78 and getting people out, that’s fine with me. … If you have a guy who throws a no-hitter in the regional championship game, you have to like that.”

Stout said Henson’s curveball was better Friday night than it was during the district final.

“He just pounded it away,” Stout said. “We kind of got pull-happy, and I think that was our downfall. … He did an incredible job. I just did not think we’d get no-hit. It was just one of those nights.”

Bullitt East will face Seventh Region champion Eastern at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the state tournament at Counter Clocks Field in Lexington.

The Chargers dropped a 5-3 decision to Eastern on May 12 in their final game of the regular season, but Bowles is confident his team will put up a fight in the rematch.

“These kids work so hard, and they do everything we ask of them,” he said. “They put up with us. I have the greatest staff in the world and the greatest kids. I wouldn’t trade this job for any job.”

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FERN CREEK       000   000   0 - 0   0   0

BULLITT EAST     110   100   X - 3   9   0

WP – Kendall Hanson (9-0). LP – Carson Allen (5-4).

All-tournament team: Tylan Hayden, Dax Raney, Brayden Lewis, Kendall Henson (Bullitt East); Bradley Jones, Carson Allen, Ashton Prechtel (Fern Creek); Jordan Powell, Dylan Pierce (Bullitt Central); Tyler Ransdell, Odriel Robles (Southern); Brody Mangis (DeSales); Luke Embry (Pleasure Ridge Park); Peyton Troutt (Butler); Tyler Manning (Holy Cross).

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @kyhighs.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: KHSAA Sixth Region baseball: Bullitt East beats Fern Creek for title