Latta settles for second at Dibble Tournament
Apr. 3—DIBBLE — The Latta High School baseball team made a strong run through the 2024 Dibble Baseball Tournament before coming up just short of the title with a 4-2 loss to Cashion in Saturday's championship contest.
Coach Dillon Atkinson's club edged host Dibble 3-2 in a Friday night semifinal contest. The Panthers, ranked No. 7 in Class 2A, were 9-3 heading into a Tuesday home game against Davis. Latta is scheduled to host local rival Stratford at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. The Panthers then return to Panther Park on Friday with a game against Preston.
Cashion, ranked No. 2 in Class 2A, left the tournament at 13-3 on the year. The host Demons, No. 8 in 2A, were sitting at 10-2.
Cashion 4, Latta 2
Cashion hurler Chance Acord shut down the LHS offense for most of the game before the Panthers finally broke the ice in the bottom of the sixth inning when senior Holden Lee blasted a two-run homer over the left field wall to get Latta within 4-2
However, that's all the offense the Panthers could muster against Acord and reliever B Nichols. Acord earned the pitching victory despite surviving seven walks. He struck out four and allowed just two hits in 4.2 innings. Nichols had one strikeout and one walk over the 2.1 innings.
Latta finished with four total hits — a double by Darien Miller and singles from Jonah Boyington and Kaleb Goodwin.
Acord hit a solo home run in the top of the third for the Wildcats' final run of the contest. He finished 2-for-2 with a double and two walks. Derek Sheline paced an eight-hit Cashion offense, going 3-for-4 with two doubles. Hunter Gibson had two hits and drove in two runs for the Wildcats.
Reese Littlefield absorbed the mound loss for Latta despite a solid outing. He struck out seven, walked three and allowed three earned runs in 6.2 innings.
Latta 3, Dibble 2
Ryder Perry broke a 2-2 tie when he scored on a sacrifice bunt from Kaleb Goodwin in the top of the seventh inning.
LHS hurler Gestin Pollard then pitched around a one-out base hit from Dibble's A Maddox to finish an impressive complete-game outing on the hill. Pollard struck out five, didn't walk a batter and allowed just two earned runs in seven innings.
Dibble ace Trey Ott was equally impressive from the mound. He struck out seven, walked four and allowed just one earned run and two Latta hits in seven innings of work.
Holden Lee doubled and scored a run for the Panthers and Reese Littlefield went 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored for the Panthers.
Austin Maddox and Jag Norman had two hits apiece to pace Dibble at the plate. Tucker Skipper and Blake Creswell both cracked doubles for the Demons.
