By Brannon King

For the FCT

Russellville 13, Fairview 0

The Russellville Golden Tigers jumped out to an 8-0, first-inning lead and went on to shut out the Fairview Aggies for a dominating area win at home March 29.

RHS picked up nine hits while holding Fairview to only 3. Austin Kitterman got the win and pitched four innings before Bailey Thompson came on to throw one inning of relief to finish off the five-inning game.  Kitterman struck out four batters, and Thompson struck out 1 Aggie.

“I think the thing that our pitchers do is that they give us a chance to win because we don’t walk a lot of guys,” Russellville head coach Chris Heaps said. “We’ve had one or two instances where we’ve hit some guys (with pitches) and where we’ve walked (batters), but in those instances, we’ve lost.”

Judd Ward went 2-3 for the Golden Tigers with two triples, three runs and four RBIs. Austin Bohannon also had a triple, while Cody Greenhill and Landon Ezzell both picked up doubles for RHS. Landon Oliver, Thompson, Skylar Holland and Tom Barkley Scott all added hits for Russellville.

Russellville 11, Fairview 0

Russellville went to Fairview March 30 and wrapped up a playoff berth by defeating the Aggies.

In game one of the day, Reed Smith got the start on the mound for RHS and picked up the win by throwing five innings of one-hit ball. He struck out 6six batters and had no walks. Ezzell worked one inning to finish off the game.

Holland had a 2-4 game at the plate and drove in four runs. Ward went 2-2 with a walk, scored four runs and had four steals. Greenhill hit a home run and had two RBIs for RHS. Kitterman, Thompson, Bohannon and Andrew Guinn all had hits for the Golden Tigers.

Russellville 5, Fairview 1

The Golden Tigers finished off the sweep in game two at Fairview March 30. Kitterman led the way with a 4-4 game at the plate, including a home run and a double.

Chad Wray pitched five scoreless innings for the win, giving up only three hits and walking none. Holland pitched the final two innings and gave up one run.

Holland went 2-4 with the bat including a double and had 1 RBI. Ezzell also had a double for RHS.  Landon Oliver, Bohannon, Greenhill and Guinn all had hits for RHS.

Russellville 6, Corner 0

The Golden Tigers traveled to East Limestone on Saturday for a couple of games and the first came against Corner. RHS pitched another shutout with the arms of Bohannon, Greenhill and Smith.  Bohannon and Greenhill both pitched three innings of 2-hit ball while Smith threw one hitless inning.  The trio combined for 12 strikeouts.

Smith and Greenhill also had big games at the plate, both hitting home runs. Smith also had a triple and a total of three RBIs while Greenhill added a single. Ward (2), Ezzell (2) and Oliver (1) all had hits.

Russellville 16, East Limestone 8

RHS scored six runs in the third inning and five in the fourth to pull away for the win at East Limestone Saturday.

Ward had a grand slam homer and five RBIs for the Golden Tigers. Oliver added a big game at the plate for RHS going 4-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Smith had a triple and scored four runs in the win.

Greenhill (3), Holland (2), Thompson (1), Bohannon (1) and Ezzell (1) had hits.  Thompson had a key double to get things going for RHS.

Kitterman, Wray and Holland all pitched for RHS with Wray picking up the win.