Red Devils capture Fayette baseball title

May 11—HICO — Oak Hill took control early and claimed an 11-1 victory over Midland Trail in the championship game of the Fayette County Middle School Baseball Tournament Monday.

The Red Devils pushed across four runs in the bottom of the first inning and steadily built on their lead as the game progressed.

"We expect this as a program at Oak Hill," said first-year Oak Hill head coach Brad Compton. "Our kids work hard at it. We've got a great group of kids, and playing baseball means a lot to them.

"We're not here to just win the Fayette County championship. We want to build this program up from the Little League level to the middle school level to the high school level and hopefully win a state championship. I'm proud of the kids."

Carson Treadway, Jacob Brown and Kash Sorrell led the Oak Hill offense. Treadway was 3-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Brown was 2-for-3 and drove in three runs, and Sorrell was 2-for-3 with a double, a pair of RBIs and three runs.

Also, Antoine Hicks was 1-for-3 with two RBIs, Soloman Truman was 1-for-2 with a double, and Cade Compton (RBI) and Caleb Compton were both 1-for-3.

Midland Trail was limited to three singles (Preston Eades, Brody Jones and Holden Grimmett) by Treadway during the six-inning affair. Grimmett provided the Patriots' lone RBI.

On the mound, Treadway struck out nine, walked five and gave up one earned run to collect the pitching verdict.

Jones fanned six in a relief role for Midland Trail.

Midland Trail head coach Nick Mooney said his team ran into a speedy, athletic team in Oak Hill.

He said his ace, Kolton Eades, was sick and had to eventually be pulled completely from the contest. "He tried to give us the best he had. His arm has carried us all year," Mooney said. "Our captain, Brody Jones, stepped up and he kept us in the ball game."

Mooney added, "We had not many physical errors, maybe one or two, but the mental errors. ... They're a fast team, and speed kills. Pressure makes diamonds, and you either perform or you don't, and that speed, man, will put the pressure on you.

"So, hats off to Oak Hill."

"When we made our schedule, we made it to where we wanted to be tested, because I felt like we had a team that could compete with perennial powers like Hurricane, Wyoming East and PikeView," Compton said. "PikeView has two really good kids that made a difference when we played them. Hurricane's always a traditional powerhouse. We competed in all of them games, and that's all I can ask for. And we won our games that we were supposed to win.

"So, overall I'm really proud of how the kids responded."

The win over the Patriots left the Red Devils with a 12-4 overall record with Eighth Grade Night scheduled Friday against Peterstown at Oak Hill.

Mooney was very pleased with the progress his team has shown this year in compiling a 10-3 record, which established a school record for wins.

"We went from 3-13 to 7-6 to now 10-3," he said. "We just can't get over that Oak Hill hump."

The good thing, he adds, is that most of the team is set to return for another go-round in 2024.

"So, what a lot of people don't realize is that, out of 22 kids, we only lose six," said Mooney. "We lose three starters. We had 13 seventh-graders. A lot of times in middle school sports, it's just the ebb and the flow of who has the older kids.

"We should be very competitive next year, just like we were this year. We never expected to be good this year. That was never on the radar, but the kids have just put in so much work over the last few years and these eighth-graders are great examples of how to work hard and be successful, and the seventh-graders bought in last year. "

Even sixth-graders "bought into the program" when there might not had been enough room on the bus to travel to away games, he said.

Trail was slated to play Wednesday against Clay County.

In the consolation game Monday, Valley logged a 6-5 verdict over Fayetteville.

The all-tournament team included the following players:

—Caleb Compton, OH;

—Soloman Truman, OH;

—Jacob Brown, OH;

—Carson Treadway, OH;

—Brody Jones, MT;

—Holden Grimmett, MT;

—Kolton Eades, MT

—Hunter Thacker, V;

—Tavion Woods, V; and

—Levi Shrewsberry, F.

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