SHELBYVILLE — The cardiac kids showed up again as Shelbyville Central’s Golden Eagles rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning to claim a 6-5 win over visiting Warren County in a District 6 4-A matchup on Monday night.
Trailing 5-3 going into the bottom seventh inning, the Eagles rallied to score three runs and claim the victory.
Lead-off hitter William Bobo stroke a single to right field, Jaquai Beverly beat out an infield error then Carston Williams had a bunt single to load the bases with no outs.
Nick Johnson hit a sacrifice fly to score Bobo, Caden Thomas got hit by a pitch then Kyler Trice delivered a two-run, walk-off double.
“Tonight wasn't the prettiest win in the world, but it was an extremely important district win nonetheless,” Shelbyville Central coach Chase Jones said.
The Eagles (9-9, 3-4) pushed three runs across the plate in the bottom half of the first frame but Warren County answered with a five-run second to take the lead.
Beverly went the distance for the winners, allowing one earned run with three hits while striking out 10 batters with five walks.
“Jaquai came out with a strong top of the first inning and we had a very productive bottom half and put up three runs. The top of the second was about as ugly as it gets with several errors and walks and five runs later, we found ourselves down by two runs. As ugly as the top of the second was, it was a crucial stepping stone in the maturation of our team. We have focused many hours working with our guys on being more mentally tough than our opponent. Mental toughness is very easy to explain, but much more difficult to achieve. It is simply having the ability to forget what happened the previous pitch, and completely focusing in on the next pitch.”
Shelbyville Central and Beverly refocused and found a way to stay in the game.
“Focus is the ability to tune out everything, don't think and just react and trust to whatever happens. Trust that the hours of preparation you have put in and done a thousand times will enable you to make the play. We kind of lost our ability to focus in the second inning and let one mistake compile in to another mistake, into another mistake. Our guys were knocked back on their heels, but got out of the inning. Jaquai and our defense were able to put up 0s the next five innings on the scoreboard.”
Baler Melton turned in a fine performance on the mound as well, fanning six batters with a pair of walks in a 11-hit effort to go the distance.
“Melton for Warren County was effective at keeping our guys off balanced most the night. We just kept battling and believing we would find a way,” Jones said. “We are capable and have to play much better as we approach the district tournament, but I'm very proud of our guys for persevering and finding a way to win a very important district match up.”
Trice ripped a pair of double and collected three RBIs while Bobo and Williams contributed three singles each followed by Beverly with a double.
Alex VanVauren’s double was the top lick for the Pioneers.

Warren County 050 000 0 — 5 3 2
Shelbyville Central 300 000 3 — 6 11 4

Warren County: Logan Earls 1-for-3, Alex VanVauren 2-for-3.
Shelbyville Central: William Bobo 3-for-4, Jaqual Beverly 1-for-3, Carston Williams 3-for-4, Nick Johnson 1-for-3, Kyler Trice 2-for-4, Caleb Molder 1-for-3.
WP: Beverly
LP: Molton

Shelbyville 9, Warren Co. 5
McMINNVILLE — Shelbyville Central featured a balanced offensive effort back by steady pitching to get the two-game sweep over Warren County in a 9-5 District 6 4-A contest on the road Tuesday night.
After an 0-7 start the Golden Eagles (10-9, 4-4) have now won 10-of-12 games and sit alone in second place in the district behind Coffee County.
The Eagles collected 13 hits, with Jaquai Beverly leading the way with a double and single with two RBIs.
Nick Johnson added a double while William Bobo, Carston Williams and Kyler Trice added two singles apiece.
Sophomore right-hander Palmer Edwards got the win on the mound, scattering four hits with three strikeouts and a two walks in five innings of work.
Williams pitched the final two innings for the Eagles.
Tyler Adams tripled and Easton Denning doubled for the Pioneers.

Shelbyville Central 104 100 3 — 9 13 2
Warren County 000 004 1 — 5 9 1
Shelbyville Central: William Bobo 2-for-5, Jaquai Beverly 2-for-4, Carston Williams 2-for-5, Nick Johnson 1-for-3, Caden Thomas 1-for-1, Kyler Trice 2-for-4, Caleb Molder 1-for-3, Ahmad Coats 1-for-1, Marquis Wilson 4-for-1.
Warren County: Easton Denning 1-for-3, Baler Molton 2-for-4, Alex VanVauren 1-for-3, Tyler Adams 1-for-3.
WP: Edwards
LP: Collins