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PHOTO BY ROCKY ROSS

SEASON OVER. The Bellarmine Lions saw their season end in the first round of the West Central District playoffs as they lost 7-4 to the Emerald Ridge Jaguars. Bellarmine had three errors that were part of a four-run fourth inning for the Jaguars. Cullen Hendrickson (top) scored a run for the Lions.

Bellarmine playoff run ends in districts

By Steve Mullen

“It is better to give than to receive” is a phrase that usually describes one’s generosity toward one another. Such was the case May 10 at Bob Maguinez Field at the Heidelberg Sports Complex as the Emerald Ridge Jaguars defeated the Bellarmine Lions by a score of 7-4 in the West Central District Playoffs.

“We lost a lot of opportunities and didn’t make plays when we had to,” Lions skipper Rick Barnhardt describing his team’s play.

Emerald Ridge got on the scoreboard first when Bellarmine catcher Addison Bankhead dropped a third strike and threw wildly to first, scoring Ronnie Ovechka from second to give the Jaguars a 1-0 lead.

The Lions, however, answered in the third when, with two on and one out, pitcher Gavin Hite drilled the first pitch from Jags starter Tim Peterson into the left field corner and scored Mitch Olson to tie it at 1. Both Kohle McLeod and Hite scored to make it a 3-1 lead for Bellarmine before the inning was over.

The roof caved in on the Lions in the home half of the fourth inning when three Lion errors led to four unearned runs for Emerald Ridge to put the Jaguars up by a score of 5-3.

Bellarmine cut that lead in half in the sixth when with one out, Cullen Hendricksen singled, stole second and dashed home when Olson lined an RBI single to left to make it a 5-4 game.

The Lions defense came back to haunt them again in the bottom of the fifth when Colby Sokol led off the inning reaching first on another error by Bankhead, and Sokol and Michael O’Bryant both came around to score to make it a 7-4 lead for Emerald Ridge.

Jaguar starter Tim Peterson, who also had 3 RBI’s in the game to aid his own cause, slammed the door on the Lions in both the sixth and seventh innings to get the win for Emerald Ridge.

“This was a real fun group of guys that went a long way and I felt bad about the way it ended as I think we will all be better for it next season as the majority of this team returns, I look forward to a very good 2009 season,” Barnhardt said.

Hite, who only gave up one earned run for Bellarmine on a gutsy effort, received the loss for the Lions.

“I was locating my fastball pretty well today and began to spot my curveball well too later in the game,” Hite said. “Even with the game today, it was a good season that could have been better, but we fell apart at the end and hopefully we can build on what we started early in the year in the 2009 season.”

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