By MATT PIKE
Carson Coy was perfect at the plate, driving in four runs, and the Benton Cardinals got revenge for an early season 2-0 loss to the Chillicothe Hornets, winning in a 12-1 six inning run rule victory at Phil Welch Stadium.
The Cardinals scored in every inning but the third on way to the win for their third run rule victory in a row. Benton outhit Chillicothe 11-4, and capitalized on four Hornet errors in the win. Head coach Johnny Coy says his team was ready for this game, after the tough gauntlet they've played all season.
"They know that they've seen everything, they've seen everybody's number one, so our guys are confident, building confidence as the year goes on and that's what we're all about here is playing the best teams possible and building confidence and playing our best baseball at the end the season," Coy tells reporters after the game.
Benton scored three straight runs in the first, with RBI doubles coming from Carson Coy and Cy Polley, as well as an RBI single by Xander Tiller. The Cardinals extended the lead in the second with another RBI single, this time by Porter McCarthy, making it 4-0 after the first two innings. Benton did have two runners reach in the third being walked, but couldn't push across any runs to extend the lead more.
Zaidyn Woodward was automatic on the mound for Benton, not allowing the Hornets to score until the sixth inning while pitching a complete game and striking out nine batters. Woodward says it was just about mixing his pitches well.
"Was able to mix in off-speed and that's always good to do and was able to keep them off balance," Woodward says.
Sacrifice fly's by Tiller and Polley added runs in the fourth inning, before Benton added three more runs in the fifth inning, one run scoring as Titan Helfrey reached on an error, and two being drive in with a two RBI single from Coy. After Chillicothe scored their run in the top of the sixth, Cooper Helton grounding out and bringing home a runner, the Cardinals scored the final three runs for the walk off on an RBI single by Kendrick Elkins, a bases loaded walk to Woodward, before Coy singled to drive in the winning run.
Carson Coy has driven in seven runs over his last three games, going 7-for-10 at the plate with two walks, a double, and three stolen bases. Coy gives the credit though to his teammates for his success at the plate over this stretch, and this season.
"Guys like Porter and Z-Bo (Zaidyn Woodward) getting on in front of me just puts a lot of open space for me to drive in runs and it's just a blessing to have them on the team and a lot of fun," Carson Coy says.
Coy was 3-for-3 with a double, a walk, and four RBIs in the win. Polley was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, while Elkins was 2-for-3 with a walk and one RBI. Four different Chillicothe hitters had one hit each for the four hits off of Woodward in his complete game on the mound.
The hope now for Benton, is the win is enough to earn the top seed heading into district play as the season nears its end. Johnny Coy says though his team excited to be a part again of Class 4 District 16.
"We've been in 15 for awhile and we're back in 16 with some really good teams so it's going to be a lot of fun," Coy says. "Getting the win today was huge and overall very happy."
A district seeding meeting will happen Thursday to determine the seeding for Class 1 District 16. The Cardinals currently hold the best record in the district at 18-10, and believe they could be poised to hold the top seed going into
Benton has five games remaining on the schedule, with just one conference game against Cameron in the mix. The Cardinals, currently on a three game winning streak next travel to play Liberty and Platte County on Saturday.
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