COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Braxton Vari pitched five scoreless innings in relief, Case Davis delivered a clutch go-ahead 2-RBI double in the top of the seventh, and the No. 3 seeded Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles (27-9, 5-3) upset the No. 1 seeded Cookeville Cavaliers (23-7, 6-2), 6-4, in the District 6-AAAA Championship on Monday night.

“[Winning the district] is phenomenal. For these boys, and for the work that they’ve put in and things that they do…we take great pride in representing our community, and we want to represent our school the right way, and our kids do that,” Shelbyville Central Head Coach Chase Jones said postgame, “To be able to bring a district championship home, it’s a very good feeling.”

With the win, the Golden Eagles secure the program's first district tournament championship since 2006.

After seeing three home runs between the two sides in the first two innings, both squads settled into a groove on the mound, highlighted by Braxton Vari’s 5.0 shutout innings in relief to pick up the win. 

“Braxton [Vari] showed his [guts] tonight. Ashton started, he was over the plate, they were just seeing him well. When Braxton came in and got going, there was no way we were going to get him out. He absolutely gave us the opportunity to do what we did late.”

Vari gave up just two hits against a high-powered No. 9 ranked Cavaliers lineup, and he worked around four walks with three strikeouts on 79 pitches. Vari kept Cookeville batters off-balance by being able to land his breaking ball for strikes early in counts and inducing soft contact. 

The Golden Eagles’ reliever kept the game tied at 4-4 until the top of the seventh when ‘Cardiac Central’ showed up at the perfect time.

Cookeville brought on Zolton Knight to pitch in the seventh, and he hit the first batter he faced in Miles McCullough to flip the lineup over for the Golden Eagles with one on and nobody out. Stephen Bobo – who finished a perfect 4-for-4 on the night – slapped a single into center, and then Blake Bone perfectly executed a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position with just one out. Cookeville then made the decision to intentionally walk Caden Peacock after his two-run home run in the first inning, bringing up Case Davis.

“They brought the sidewinder in, and it worked out that we had a lefty [Case Davis] come up at the right time,” Jones said, “Case did his job and barreled up a ball.”

Davis did indeed, coming through with the biggest hit of the Golden Eagles season with a 2-RBI double that soared past the centerfielder and got all the way to the wall to give Shelbyville Central a 6-4 lead. 

Brody Thomas was hit by a pitch, bringing in a new pitcher with the bases loaded, but the Golden Eagles couldn’t tack on another run, sending the game to a tense home half of the seventh. 

Vari opened the inning by freezing Alex Overholt for a strikeout looking, but then Tyler Smith flipped the lineup over with a single into right field to flip the lineup over. Fortunately for the visitors, Vari induced a lazy pop-up on the infield from Cavs’ star KJ Anderson for the second out. Cole Teeters kept the game alive with a single down the left field line, but then Vari came back to strike out Ty Harrison on three pitches to win the program’s first district title in 20 years.

The Golden Eagles got the scoring started early in the first inning after Stephen Bobo’s leadoff double turned into an infield RBI from Blake Bone for the first run. Then, after Bone reached safely on a fielder’s choice, Caden Peacock launched his team-high fourth home run of the season over the left field wall to give the visitors a 3-0 lead in the first.

Cookeville was undeterred, scoring three runs of their own in the home half on a three-run home run from Harrison to tie the game up at 3-3. The Cavs would launch another home run from Templeton in the bottom of the second to take a 4-3 lead, but the Golden Eagles got that run back immediately in the top of the third on an RBI-groundout from Bone to score Bobo once again and tie the game at 4-4 until the seventh.

“Anytime that you score first, it kind of takes a little bit of the pressure off to where you can take a deep breath, but give Cookeville credit. They came up and barreled up several balls to tie the game right back,” Jones said, “To me, for them to take a 4-3 lead, we hold them there, then we come right back and tie the game back up at 4-4. At that time, with our guys, I felt like we had them right where we wanted them. They play with grit, they play with heart, and they play with belief.”

At the plate for the Golden Eagles, Stephen Bobo led off going 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles, Bone went 1-for-3 with an RBI, and Caden Peacock finished 1-for-3 with three RBIs, a home run, and a walk. Case Davis was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a double, Brody Thomas went 1-for-3, and Miles McCullough finished 0-for-1 with a walk and a HBP. Shelbyville Central out-hit Cookeville, 9-to-6, and neither team committed an error.

“The top half of our lineup did very well tonight,” Jones said, “The bottom half struggled a bit, but that’s the thing about this team. Friday night we might have the exact opposite. Anyone, one through nine, you just never know.”

Shelbyville Central will host the Region 3-AAAA Tournament beginning on Friday night against District 5-4A Runners-Up, Cleveland High, at 7:00 p.m.