BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – The Cascade Champions (14-5, 3-2) won their third-consecutive District 9-AA contest by way of the run-rule, 11-0 after five innings, in game one against the Grundy County Yellow Jackets (4-16, 1-4) at home on Monday night. 

Jayden Hathcock pitched a perfect 5.0 innings on the mound for the Champions, striking out 12 of the 15 batters he faced on just 65 pitches. 

His counterpart, Ross Broadway, did not fare quite as well. Cascade’s offense chased Broadway from the mound in the first inning after plating six earned runs on four hits and four walks in Broadway’s 33 pitches thrown. Ryder White came on in relief, getting the final two outs to mercifully end the inning, and he pitched the final 3.2 innings, giving up five runs, three earned, on four hits and three walks on 63 pitches. 

After Hathcock’s 1-2-3 start in the top half, the Champions’ offense immediately went to work in the bottom of the first inning. Jordan Childress, who went 1-4 at the plate with an RBI, lined a leadoff single into center field. Xykaiah Dixon, who finished 2-4 with a double, followed up Childress with a single of his own. Hathcock lined out for the first out, then Thomas Demartelaere worked a walk after a successful double steal moved both runners into scoring position to load the bases. Wickey Parker then broke the seal with a 2-RBI single into right, putting Cascade in front, 2-0. 

Caleb Crouch followed that up with a walk to re-load the bases, then Jaxson Milliken cleared the bases with a 3-RBI single into center, advancing to second on the throw in to the plate. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases once again, flipping the lineup over for Childress. Childress drove home the final run of the inning on a fielder’s choice to short, beating out the throw to first to allow the run to score and break up the double play. 

Cascade plated another pair of runs in the second inning on a towering two-run home run from Wickey Parker to center field following Demartelaere’s second drawn walk to grow the lead to 8-0.

Then, in the fourth inning, the Champions scored their final three runs of the night. The first came on a Yellow Jacket error, the second came on a fielder’s choice, and after another error, Elijah Wesenberg singled on a ground ball to third that drove home Milliken, giving Cascade a commanding 11-0 lead as the fourth inning concluded.

Hathcock struck out two of the three batters in the top of the fifth to trigger the run-rule for Cascade. Overall, Wickey Parker finished a perfect 3-3 at the plate with four RBIs, a home run, and a double. Jaxson Milliken also drove home four runs, finishing 1-3 at the plate. 

Cascade travels to Coalmont for game two on Tuesday with first-pitch scheduled for 6:00 p.m.