Photo: Northpoint Christian’s baseball team with the TSSAA D2-A West Region championship trophy following Tuesday’s 6-1 victory over Lausanne Collegiate. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
Northpoint Christian won the TSSAA D2-A West Region baseball championship Tuesday night with a 6-1 victory over Lausanne Collegiate. Northpoint now becomes the top seed from the West in the upcoming state playoffs, gets a bye in the first round, and will play a best two-of-three series against an opponent to be determined to qualify for another appearance in the Spring Fling state tournament, where the Trojans are the defending state champions.
Northpoint opened the game with a pair of runs in the first when Isaiah Nolan singled to score Carson Jones for the first run, followed by Nolan stealing third base and then scoring on a throwing error by the Lausanne third baseman.
Lausanne would cut the margin in half with a run scored in the second, but Northpoint followed with a big inning that broke the game open. Three runs scored in the fourth gave the Trojans a 5-1 lead, an inning that started when KL Farr homered off the top of the left field wall at USA Stadium in Millington, where the game was played.
“Kevin’s (Farr) home run got us fired up, like, OK we got this, but every run counts,” Region Coach of the Year Stephen Kirkpatrick said.
The Trojans would add one more run in the fifth inning when tournament MVP Seth Giamportone singled to score Farr.
Sophomore Vail Perkins was given the ball by Kirkpatrick and he gave the Trojans more than was expected. Perkins pitched six innings, allowed one Lausanne run, seven hits, four walks and one strikeout. But Kirkpatrick was pleased that Perkins gave his team a near complete game on the mound.
“We were hoping to get 3-4 innings out of him, but the past few games, coming out of the loser’s bracket, we’ve seen some amazing pitching performances,” Kirkpatrick said. “He got stronger as the game went on and then Seth (Giamportone) said he wanted the ball for the seventh and I told him, ‘Go win us a championship.’”
Giamportone came to pitch the seventh, allowed one hit and struck out two, including the final out for the region championship.
Northpoint earlier lost to the Lynx 11-0 back on May 2, but then ran off five straight victories to the championship, winning 10-3 over the Lynx Monday night to set up the final winner-take-all contest Tuesday night. The tournament originally started in Jackson, Tenn., but was moved to Millington for Monday and Tuesday night when the three remaining teams were all from the Memphis area.
Kirkpatrick said Tuesday’s regional title is the third for the program and second in the last four years.
Coach of the Year Stephen KirkpatrickMVP Seth Giamportone
PREP BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
TSSAA D2-A West Region baseball tournament
Lausanne Collegiate 11, Northpoint Christian 0 (5 inns.)
Northpoint Christian 10, Jackson Christian 5
Northpoint Christian 12, FACS 3
Northpoint Christian 3, St. George’s 2
Northpoint Christian 10, Lausanne 3
Northpoint Christian 6, Lausanne 1 (Championship)
MHSAA 6A baseball North Half finals – best of three
Warren Central at Center Hill -7 p.m. Friday
Center Hill at Warren Central – 7 p.m. Saturday
Warren Central at Center Hill – 7 p.m. Monday (if needed)
MHSAA 7A baseball North Half finals – best of three
Oxford at Hernando – 7 p.m. Friday
Hernando at Oxford – 7 p.m. Saturday
Oxford at Hernando – 7 p.m. Monday (if needed)
PREP SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS
Northpoint Christian’s softball team reached the final round of the West Region tournament Tuesday with a convincing 13-0 victory over Evangelical Christian School in five innings, but defeated USJ 7-2 in the first of what became two games of the championship round. USJ would take the championship and top seed into the state playoffs with a wild 11-10 victory over Northpoint Christian in the winner-take-all contest.
In the victory over ECS, Northpoint scored five times in the third inning of the run-rule shortened contest. Hannah Bostain scored four times on three hits and Josey Jones drove in four RBIs. Bostain homered twice and Jones and Macie Dever-Boaz also hit roundtrippers. Pitcher Trinity Garvin allowed two hits and struck out seven in the shutout victory.
In the first championship round game against USJ, Northpoint scored three runs in the third inning and three more to put the game away in the seventh. Dever-Boaz scored three times with three hits, with Bostain earning three RBIs. Bostain and Dever-Boaz both homered. Garvin threw another seven innings, allowing two runs on four hits, walked one and struck out three.
USJ used two big innings in taking the final game of the tournament 11-10. The Lady Bruins scored six runs in the second and five more in the sixth inning for the winning runs. Northpoint scored runs in every inning except the sixth, and started with a three-run first frame.
Dever-Boaz and Jones each scored three runs and Jones had three hits in the contest, including a home run. Faith Ryan drove in three runs. Northpoint had 15 hits in the offensive explosion.
Garvin was tagged with the pitching loss, despite eight strikeouts in six innings. She allowed 11 runs on 11 hits and walked two.
Despite the loss, the Lady Trojans get a bye in the first round of the playoffs and will host a sub-state series.
TSSAA D2-A West Region softball tournament
Northpoint Christian 9, Jackson Christian 5
USJ 12, Northpoint Christian 3
Northpoint Christian 13, ECS 0 (5 innings)
Northpoint Christian 7, USJ 2
USJ 11, Northpoint Christian 10
MHSAA 7A softball North Half playoffs – best of three
DeSoto Central at Hernando – 6 p.m. Thursday
Hernando at DeSoto Central – 6 p.m. Friday
DeSoto Central at Hernando – 6 p.m. Saturday, if needed
PREP BOYS SOCCER PLAYOFFS
Miller Lashlee and Maverick Ray each scored four goals in the Northpoint Christian School’s 8-2 victory over Westminster Academy Tuesday. With the win, Northpoint advanced to the West Region championship match on Thursday to play Lausanne Collegiate in the championship round. This will be the first appearance in a region championship match for coach Ethan McClure’s program and regardless of the outcome, the Trojans will get a sub-state bye and will host a state playoff match on May 18.
TSSAA D2-A West Region boys’ soccer playoffs
Northpoint Christian 9, Harding Academy 0
Northpoint Christian 8, Westminster Academy 2
Northpoint Christian vs. Lausanne Collegiate – Thursday (Championship)
SPORTS ETC…: Olive Branch High School announced on Tuesday that assistant baseball coach Leemarcus Boyd had been elevated to become the school’s new head baseball coach.
