Wildcats clinch county title

The Tharptown Wildcats won their second straight Franklin County baseball tournament this past Saturday. The players and coaches are pictured with the championship plaque.

By Bart Moss

For the FCT

The Tharptown Wildcats won their second straight Franklin County baseball tournament on Saturday.

The Wildcats defeated Phil Campbell and Red Bay in route to the title.

Early in the day, Tharptown defeated Phil Campbell 3-1 in a tight game. The Bobcats led 1-0 through much of the game even though they didn’t get their first hit until the sixth inning. Phil Campbell’s lone unearned run came in the first inning.

“Two in a row is a great accomplishment,” Tharptown senior Kelby Hallmark said. “This is one of the goals we work toward every year.”

“We have achieved two of our goals for the year,” said Wildcat coach Griffin Harris said. “We’ve won our area and the county. Now we want to work our way through the state playoffs.”

Max Nolen scored two of Tharptown’s runs and John Staggs scored the other. Tharptown scored their runs on an RBI single by Shawn Hines scoring Nolen and a sacrifice fly by Tristan Smith scoring Staggs. Nolen also scored on a fielder’s choice in the seventh inning.

Allan Bohannon was the winning pitcher striking out eight and giving up only two hits.

In the championship game, the Wildcats shut out Red Bay 8-0. Kelby Hallmark had two hits and two RBIS. Allan Bohannon had a hit and two RBIs. John Staggs had a hit and two RBIs. Shawn Hines and Allen Gaston each added a hit.

Staggs pitched a complete-game shutout with four strike outs and gave up only three hits.

Scores from the Franklin County Tournament:

• Phil Campbell defeated Belgreen 10-0

• Red Bay defeated Vina 8-7

• Tharptown defeated Phil Campbell 3-1

• Finals: Tharptown defeated Red Bay 8-0