BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – The Cascade Champions (5-1) rounded out a three-game weekend by going 3-1 against Marion County (4-8, 1-1) on Thursday, Spring Hill (5-5) on Friday, and ended the weekend with an 11-6 win over Moore County (5-7, 2-0) on Saturday. 

Cascade run-ruled Marion County, 10-0, after five innings on Thursday after a seven-run fifth inning. The Warriors committed five errors as a team and tallied just a single hit against Champs’ ace Jayden Hathcock. Hathcock pitched three complete shutout innings, giving up just a single hit and a pair of walks against his six strikeouts on 60 pitches. Isaac Winton threw the final 2.0 innings, allowing just a single walk and no hits while striking out four on 32 pitches. 

Leadoff man Jordan Childress went 1-3 at the plate while tallying 3 RBI to lead Cascade.

Jordan Childress (1) went 2-4 at the plate with one RBI in the second game against Moore County on Saturday. Childress also drove home three runs against Marion County on Thursday.

David Smith

On Friday night, Cascade suffered their first defeat of the season, falling to Spring Hill, 8-6. The Raiders outhit the Champs, 10-6, and launched a pair of home runs on the night. Wickey Parker got the start on the mound, lasting 2.0 innings while giving up three earned runs on a pair of hits, including a home run, while giving out a pair of walks alongside a pair of strikeouts on 39 pitches. 

Spring Hill took an early 3-0 lead after the top of the second inning before Cascade responded with a pair of runs in the home half. The Champions would take the lead in the bottom of the third inning, 5-4, thanks to three more runs in response to the Raiders tacking on another run in the top half. 

Neither team scored in the fourth inning before Spring Hill scratched across three runs in the top of the fifth to re-take the lead, 7-5. Cascade pulled within one in the sixth, but the Raiders responded with an insurance run in the top of the seventh to extend their lead to 8-6 before holding Cascade scoreless in the home half of the seventh to secure their fifth win of the season.

On Saturday, Cascade used a six-run fifth inning to break through and take down Moore County, 11-6.

Freshman Daymian Maldonado got his first career start against the Raiders in the win, going a perfect 4-4 at the plate with a pair of doubles while driving in one run. 

Xyakaiah Dixon (5) went 3-5 at the plate with 1 RBI, a double, and a pair of runs scored on Saturday in game two against Moore County. He also legged out a triple against Marion County on Thursday night.

David Smith

Dawson Youngblood (2-0) started on the mound for the hosts, throwing 4.0 innings and giving up six earned runs on eight hits and four walks to go with three strikeouts on 80 pitches. Elijah Wesenberg came on in relief, throwing a nearly perfect 3.0 innings and shutting out Moore County’s offense, giving up just a single hit and a single walk while tallying seven strikeouts on 42 pitches. 

Moore County took a 4-0 lead after the top of the second inning before Cascade responded with three runs of their own in the home half to cut the lead to 4-3. The Champs then tacked on another run to tie things up in the bottom of the third, 4-4. 

The Raiders responded in the top of the fourth with two more runs of their own to go back up, 6-4, but Cascade wouldn’t go away, cutting the lead in half with another run in the home half of the fourth. After Wesenberg held Moore County scoreless in the fifth, Cascade finally put everything together offensively, exploding for six runs to take a commanding 11-6 lead going into the sixth inning. Wesenberg pitched a scoreless final two innings as well to lock down Cascade’s fifth win of the season as the Champions get set to open district play with a two-game series against Chapel Hill on Monday. 

Cascade travels to Chapel Hill for game one of the series on Monday night with first pitch set for 4:30 p.m. Jayden Hathcock (3-0, 1.56 ERA) is the projected starter for Cascade.