The Hackett Hornets and Lady Hornets flew into Paris on Thursday, and when the afternoon was over, they returned to Hackett with a doubleheader softball and baseball sweep of Paris. The victories put Hackett in control of the 3A-4 northern division in both sports. The Lady Hornets defeated Paris 7-1 and gave the Lady Eagles’ prolific pitcher, Jadyn Hart, her first loss of the season. The baseball Eagles also fell to Hackett by a score of 8-2. The only offense and run production that the Eagles could muster against the Hornets was a two-run blast by Duke Walker in the fifth inning. Walker’s home run cleared the left field fence easily, but that was all of the runs the Eagles would score in the game.
Resident Press was in Paris to cover the baseball match with Paris and Hackett. The Hornets chased Paris starter Juan Santos after just one and one third innings. Junior Jude Simmons came in and pitched well for approximately five innings in relief. Simmons was able to stop the bleeding to give the Paris offense a chance to get on track, but the hits never came for the Eagles against the pitching of Hackett.
Hackett starter Cole Ketchum pitched a brilliant game until he was relieved deep into the game. Jake Fisher relieved Ketchum, and Cash Oliver closed for the Hornets. The Eagles hitters managed to get a few hits that were scattered throughout the game, but other than Walker’s home run that was hit with on runner aboard, Paris was unable to get the key hit with runners on base to score runs and cut into the 8-0 lead. The Hackett pitchers kept the Eagles hitters frustrated all day.
Thursday’s game with Hackett was the third game in five days for the Eagles, and Paris’s lack of depth in pitching became apparent. Paris will play this week in the Logan County tournament in Magazine, and one objective for the Eagles will be to develop pitching depth and get their bats on track to resume conference play next week versus Cedarville.
Eagles baseball coach Josh Hart said after the game, “It was a tough divisional loss. Hackett’s pitching was able to keep us off balance and we were able to only scratch out a couple of hits; one of those being a Duke Walker two-run blast in the fifth inning.”
The Eagles play a non-conference game at Dover on Monday at 4:30 p.m. On Tuesday, the Eagles will return home for an important conference and divisional game with the Cedarville Pirates. First pitch for that game is scheduled for 5 p.m.
The Lady Eagles softball team will play a non-conference game on Monday versus Lamar at 5 p.m. Paris will also play Cedarville on Tuesday. As of publication time, that game is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. After Thursday’s losses to Hackett, the Cedarville games become extremely important “must wins” for both teams.
Photos from Thursday’s baseball game with Paris and Hackett are available on Facebook at Paris Eagles Sports. Fans from both schools can view and copy the photos at no charge.
Resident Press wishes all of our readers a Happy Easter weekend, and we will see you at the ballpark on Monday for the Lady Ealgles’ softball game with Lamar. Watch for that story in the Tuesday evening online edition of Resident Press.
See you at the ballpark on Monday!
