Hartsville Baseball Wins District 5 Championship
Hartsville’s Cam Canarella sprinting to first base. PHOTO BY DAWSON JORDAN
#9 Treion Mcfarland sliding safely into second base. PHOTO BY DAWSON JORDAN
By: Don Gearhart
Having beaten the Bluffton Bobcats 4-2 earlier in the tournament, the Hartsville Red Foxes were hosting them again in the District 5 Championship game knowing they would have to be beaten twice to be eliminated. With both teams throwing their ace pitchers, three innings elapsed with only one baserunner apiece. Treion McFarland led off the first inning with a walk for Hartsville and Jordan Timmons had a bloop base hit in the second inning for Bluffton.
Bluffton was retired in order in the top of the fourth but Hartsville was not to be denied. McFarland led off with a double and promptly scored on Cam Canarella’s RBI base hit. Jackson Moore followed with a triple in the gap to plate Canarella. Josh Jones then doubled to bring home Moore and the Red Foxes owned a 3-0 lead after four innings.
Canarella gave up a one out base-on-balls in the top of the fifth but that was all Bluffton could muster Daniel Parker and Roddi Morris had back-to-back singles to start the bottom of the fifth. McFarland grounded into a fielder’s choice but both runners advanced on the play. Canarella then hit a sacrifice fly that scored Parker. Moore lashed a single to the opposite field for an RBI single that scored Morris. Jones was safe on an error setting up Ryan Jordan’s RBI base hit to double Hartsville’s lead at 6-0.
Canarella gave way on the mound to John Alexander having completed five innings of one-hit ball, striking out eight and walking just one. Alexander gave up a run in the sixth on a walk, double, and fielder’s choice. Hartsville countered with a pair of runs when Morris doubled off the third base bag and was driven in on McFarland’s single. Canarella home McFarland to make it 8-1.
Alexander gave up another run in the seventh when he hit a batter who then stole second and third before scoring on a base hit. The 8-2 final score was enough for the Red Foxes to claim the Disrict 5 title.
Lower State Playoffs
Fresh off a District 6 championship, the Beaufort Eagles soared into Hartsville for the first round of the Lower State Championship. They would leave town with a broken wing. They did get two base hits in the opening inning but could not score. Hartsville, on the other hand, didn’t waste any time. Treion McFarland led off the inning with a solo homer. A Cam Canarella base hit, a hit-by-pitch to Jackson Moore, a 2-run double by Ryan Thompson, walks to Garrett Parker and Mckendrie Douglas, and a fielding error led to a five run stanza.
Beaufort tallied two runs of their own in the second garnering three hits around a fielding error by the Red Foxes defense. Never one to stand on their laurels, the Red Foxes responded with an exclamation point. A Canarella dinger scored one run. A double by Moore and a fielding error chased home a second run. Then, Parker walked and Douglas drove home two more runs with a double. An error contributed to a fifth run and McFarland’s single brought home a sixth to increase Hartsville’s lead to 11-2.
The Eagles tallied two more runs in the third when Hunter Rast doubled and Logan Brutcher blasted a home run. A subsequent walk ended the pitching night for Douglas as Daniel Parker came in to shut the door. Hartsvllle’s third showed Moore with a double, Josh Jones with an RBI single, and both Garrett and Daniel Parker with RBI doubles to set the score at 15-4.
Parker shut down the visitors in the next two innings to give Hartsville the opening round win. They will host Airport in the Winner Bracket Finals.
