By Thomas Grant Jr.
Host school Blythewood and Cardinal Newman looked to bring the South Carolina Diamond Invitational title back to the Northeast region.
Instead, both teams fell to defending champion Lexington who claimed their third Invitational title since 2012.
The Bengals opened their tournament with a 10-1 rout of Northwestern. Amare Counts went 3-3 with two RBI and he and Jackson Bottar, who also had three hits, hit solo home runs in the second inning.
Game Two was also a one-sided affair for Blythewood as it defeated South Florence 11-1 in five innings. Chance Johnson belted a 3-run homer, Counts drove in two runs and the Bengals capitalized off five errors.
Sammy Frankin picked up the win as he struck out three and allowed four hits.
Game Three was a low-scoring affair which saw both teams combine for nine hits. Johnny Collins struck out six and held the Eagles to five hits in the 3-1 victory to earn a berth in Saturday’s final.
Lance Penfield had an RBI sacrifice fly; Johnson drove in a run with a double and Harrison Collins added an insurance run in the sixth on an RBI fielder’s choice.
This set up a final matchup between the Bengals and Wildcats. Blythewood took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning as Alex Myers scored off a throwing error by Tournament MVP catcher Jackson Cionek to second base.
Bottar and Chase Rollings kept the Wildcats scoreless through the first five innings. In the sixth inning, Lexington scored four runs, three on a home run by Tradd Burton.
Amare Counts hit a leadoff home run in the bottom half of the inning. He relieved Rollings to open the seventh inning where he gave up a solo home run to Cionek which gave Lexington the 5-2 victory.
Counts was named to the All-Tournament team, while Porter Rummel made the All-Academic team.
Cardinal Newman looked to make it an All-Northeast final after two wins over Dreher and South Florence. Against the Blue Devils, Connor Hooks’ 2-run single in the fifth and nine strikeouts from All-Tournament pitcher Austin Laughlin was the difference in a 2-1 victory.
A fifth inning rally enabled Cardinal Newman to defeat the Yellow Jackets 5-3. All five runs were scored in the top of the fifth, capped by a 2-run single by Rylan Knudsen.
Will Craddock had two hits to lead the Cardinals.
Cardinal Newman’s hopes for a final appearance were dashed in a 10-1 loss to defending tournament champion Lexington. Jackson Cionek broke a scoreless tie with a 2-run single in the fourth inning and finished with 3 RBI.
Cromer went 3-4 with an RBI and Lincoln Hill had a 2-run double for the Wildcats. On the mound, Grant Kissner, Cameron Sutton, and Brayden Studebaker combined for nine strikeouts and four hits allowed.
Cardinal Newman’s lone run came in the seventh inning off an infield throwing error to first base. Jeb Britt and Connor Hicks each accounted for two hits for the Cardinals.
The final game for the Cardinals was a 3-1 loss to Chapin Saturday in the third-place game. Hooks drove in Cardinal Newman’s lone run in the first inning with a single, only for the Eagles to answer with two runs in the bottom of the second inning.
