Friday sports page: Trojans rally to advance in D2-A baseball

May 9, 2025 Bob Bakken

Photo: Northpoint Christian’s Landon Lay swings at a pitch during Friday’s playoff game against Webb School. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)

The Northpoint Christian School baseball team took the first step on a possible trip back to the TSSAA Spring Fling Friday with a 7-4 Division 2-A first-round victory over Webb School of Bell Buckle, Tenn.

The victory on the Trojans’ home diamond sets them up for a best-of-three playoff series at Providence Academy, Tenn. next week with the winner heading back to the Tennessee Final Four tournament in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Winning pitcher KL Farr held Webb School to just three hits, walked five and struck out nine in posting the mound victory.

While the Trojans (26-10-1) took the first step in the playoffs with the victory Friday, that step started as a stumble when Webb School scored four times in the first inning, a frame that featured a line drive single by Nate Simmons that scored two runs.

“They came out strong, and they executed their offense the way they wanted to and we really couldn’t slow it down,” Northpoint coach Stephen Kirkpatrick said. “The second inning started to slow the game down a little bit, Kevin (KL Farr) settled in, put up a zero there, and then he just seemed to cruise the rest of the game.”

The Trojans recovered from the stumble and made a giant leap forward in the fifth inning, scoring seven times to take a 7-4. It was an inning that was highlighted by a Vail Perkins and a Landon Lay double that scored two of the seven runs.

“We stuck to the plan and were really selective at the plate with what we swung at and what we didn’t,” Kirkpatrick said. “We got some key hits, and had a lot of guys that contributed base running and everything, and that’s what made it for us.”

The inning also had batters hit by a pitch, a wild pitch and other miscues made by Webb that seemed to snowball in the pleasant Friday afternoon.

“All year, we’ve done a really good job of capitalizing other teams’ mistakes,” Kirkpatrick said. “They made some mistakes and we were able to capitalize on it, but if you are still playing baseball in Tennessee right now, you are a good team.”

While holding Webb to three hits, the Northpoint offense mustered six hits of its own, including a double by catcher Landon Lay that scored a pair of runs.

Northpoint batters were hit by a pitch five times during the contest; Farr and Jayden Parker were each plunked twice. On the other side, three Webb School batters were struck by KL Farr deliveries.

Providence Academy is the next stop for Northpoint on the playoff trail. Dates for the series had not been determined as of late Friday.

QUICK CHANGE ARTISTS: Fitting an important playoff game into a graduation weekend schedule was a tough chore for Northpoint Christian with the 2:30 p.m. start time Friday accomplishing a couple of things. The game allowed Northpoint players and families to attend baccalaureate services for the school seniors Friday evening at Broadway Baptist Church, which supports the private school. It also allowed the visitors to return home at a reasonable time from a four-hour trip back to their home school south of Murfreesboro.

WEBB FEET: Webb School, which played Northpoint in Friday’s TSSAA D2-A playoff baseball game, is a private co-educational school located in Bell Buckle, Tenn., a town of about 400 residents. Founded in 1870, it has been called the oldest continuously operating boarding school in the South. Under founder Sawney Webb’s leadership, the school has produced more Rhodes Scholars than any other secondary school in the United States.

Webb athletic teams are nicknamed “Feet,” and were formerly called Webb Tigers, and at one time, the Webb Ropers.

There is actually another Webb School, located in Knoxville, Tenn., that was started in 1955 by the grandson of the original Webb School founder, Sawney Webb. The Knoxville Webb School teams are called the Spartans.