BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – The Cascade Champions (16-8, 4-4) used a fifth-inning two-out grand slam from Wickey Parker to secure the second win in the “Battle of Bedford” season series against Community (16-15, 4-4), 7-1, in the first round of the District 9-AA Tournament on Tuesday night. 

The Champions also got a magnificent complete-game performance from their ace on the mound, Jayden Hathcock. Hathcock gave up one earned run in the top of the first followed by six-consecutive shutout innings. He gave up just six hits and two walks while striking out eight batters on 106 pitches.

“They [Community] had a good approach,” Cascade Head Coach Travis Sheffield said postgame, “Hathcock is a strike-thrower – he has velo and he has 3-4 pitches and he throws them all for strikes – and that’s what you do with a strike-thrower. Get up there and swing at it and your chances are going to be good. That was the approach they took and they had us on the ropes a little in the first inning, then we had to make some adjustments. We went hard early and they were waiting on it so we spun early instead and Hathcock made some phenomenal pitches.”

“He’s just a dawg like he’s been since his freshman year."

Jayden Hathcock (14) threw a complete 7.0 innings against Community to open the District 9-AA Tournament on Tuesday, giving up just a single earned run on six hits and two walks with eight strikeouts on 106 pitches.

T-G Staff Photo

The Vikings threatened early after three soft-hit singles found holes in the Champs’ defense to load the bases with one out, and then Kaleb Maillet drove home Josh Powers to put Community in front, 1-0, and keep the bases juiced. However, Hathcock then forced Dylan Markum to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat and get out of the inning.

Ryan Sharp got the start on the mound for the Vikings, but after Xykaiah Dixon worked a one-out walk, Caleb Crouch drove him home with a hard-hit double to the left-field wall to tie the game at 1-1.

Neither team scored again until the bottom of the third when Jordan Childress led things off by golfing a solo home run – his fifth of the season – that just scraped over the centerfield wall to give Cascade a 2-1 lead. 

“He [Childress] is just the man for us leading off,” said Sheffield, “He battles every pitch. You dig into his stats, obviously the numbers speak for themselves – he has single-digit strikeouts on the year, and he hates the swing-and-miss. He takes a good approach on his foul balls, he’s a student of the game, and he makes it look really easy. He’s our catalyst at the top of the lineup, and for the most part, we go as he goes.”

Childress finished 2-4 at the plate with a double, a home run, and two RBIs on the night. 

Jordan Childress (1) went 2-4 at the plate with a double, a home run, and two RBIs in Tuesday's win against Community.

David Smith

Sharp worked through the third inning, but he was pulled for Logan Cawthon to start the fourth. Sharp ended with 3.0 innings of work, giving up two earned runs on three hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts on 53 pitches. Cawthon recorded three outs in the fourth unscathed, and then Logan Reed came on to close out the final 2.0 innings, giving up five earned runs on three hits and three walks while striking out two batters on 55 pitches. 

Meanwhile, Hathcock gave up just two hits – a pair of singles – after the first inning as Community never truly threatened again offensively. 

Then, in the bottom of the fifth, Childress pulled a one-out double down the left-field line, and after Dixon lined out to center, Caleb Crouch and Thomas Demartelaere worked back-to-back walks to load the bases with two outs, bringing up the sophomore lefty, Wickey Parker. 

Parker took the first pitch for a ball, then got a hanging breaking ball that he hammered over the right-field wall for his team-leading seventh round-tripper of the season. The grand slam gave Cascade a 6-1 lead and essentially put the game to bed.

“It felt good,” Parker said postgame with a smile, “Teammates got on and did their job. I kind of got deja vu from the last time against [Community] when we were down one in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and I didn’t get an opportunity to hit. I knew it was gone immediately.”

Cascade tacked on another insurance run in the sixth with a sac fly from Childress to bring home River Maddox and grow the lead to 7-1. After Hathcock struck out Powers swinging to end the game, Cascade advanced to the District Championship game against Chapel Hill on Wednesday night with a chance to punch a ticket to the Region Tournament.

“That was the talk this week, just give us two wins,” said Sheffield, “We don’t care where we get ‘em or how we get ‘em. We talked about Hathcock giving us one game, and then it’s somebody else's time. That’s been our MO ever since I’ve been here, like two years ago it was Hathcock’s time to win a big game. Tomorrow, I like our chances. I think we have some guys that are dawgs and it’s someone else’s time to win a big game.”

Two years ago, Cascade faced an identical scenario: win game two of the district tournament at Chapel Hill to win the district championship and clinch a spot in the region tournament, and the Champions beat the Rockets twice in a row.

“It’s big, but we spoke about it. Several conversations about going over there [Chapel Hill] 1-0 and dogpiling [to celebrate a district championship],” Sheffield concluded, “Several of those guys in that locker room are juniors and seniors, and they were there the last time we did that two years ago. We hate to go back and re-live, but if you don’t know where you’ve been, you never know where you’re going, and we’ve already been over there and dogpiled, so we’re ready to go dogpile.”

Childress went 2-4 at the plate with two RBIs, Caleb Crouch finished 1-2 with an RBI-double and a walk, and Demartelaere went 1-2 with a walk. Parker finished 1-2 with the grand slam and a walk, and River Maddox finished 1-3 with a run scored. 

For Community, Josh Powers led off going 2-4 at the plate, Elijah Westbrooks went 1-3, and Maillet finished 1-2 with an RBI and a walk.

Cascade travels to Chapel Hill on Wednesday night for game two of the District 9-AA Tournament with first-pitch set for 6:00 p.m.