Patriots head to region tourney

The Henry County High School Patriots baseball team will take on the Rossview High School Hawks during the first round of the Region 7-4A tournament at 4:30 p.m. on Friday in Dickson County.

The Patriots, 22-11, finished second in the District 14-4A tournament after a 7-5 loss on May 3 to the Dickson County Cougars, who gained the district championship with the win, and the right to host the regional tournament.

Rossview, a Clarksville school, enters Friday’s matchup with a 35-4 record for the season. The Hawks won their own district tournament.

The Tennessean ranks Rossview as the first-place team among large class schools in the Nashville area. this week. 

One of Rossview’s players is Ashton Kemp, a former standout with Henry County who is the son of former Patriots head coach Shane Kemp.

DICKSON COUNTY TO FACE WILDCATS

While the Patriots must defeat Rossview to survive in the winner's bracket, Dickson County faces the same situation as it goes against the Clarksville High School Wildcats. Clarksville is second in The Tennessean large school rankings behind Rossview.

The winners of the two games on Friday will play for the regional championship on Saturday in Dickson.

Henry County won District 14-4A in the regular season, but was upended twice by host Dickson County in the district tourney.

The Patriots started strong, downing the Northwest Vikings 11-1 on May 1, before losing a tight game to the Cougars 5-4 the following night.

The win sent the Cougars to the final game on May 3, while the Patriots were forced to play a second game against the Vikings for a chance to play for the final.

After defeating the Vikings, 12-0, in a game ended by the run rule, the Big Red ultimately fell to Cougars a second time. Both teams posted two runs in the first inning, with Dickson adding three in the third inning. The score was stacked 7-2 against the Patriots after the top of the sixth, thanks to the addition of two more runs by Dickson County.

The Patriots closed the gap in the bottom of the eighth, scoring on a double and an error, but came up short.

After a season of strong play, several Patriots players logged postseason honors.

Truitt Webb was named District 14-4A Player of the Year, while Jack Todd was named the district’s Pitcher of the Year.

Other HCHS players named to this year’s All-District Team were Javion Boyd, Carter Hedges, Chase Cameron, Peyten Littleton and Brock Archie.