Montgomery Central baseball season ends with loss to Tennessee High in state tournament

CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Montgomery Central traveled to Murfreesboro to take on Tennessee High in a state tournament elimination game on Wednesday, and the Indians’ season came to an end with a 4-6 loss.

Both teams were active on the offensive end in the first inning of play. Montgomery Central kicked things off on offense. After the first two batters failed to reach base, Eric Owen and Andrew White reached on singles to extend the inning.

This set Landon Welborn up for success as he drove in both base runners with a 2 RBI double. The Indians couldn’t have asked for a better start. However, they weren’t the only ones to find success with their bats early in the game.

Montgomery Central pitcher Dakota Kessler started on the mound, and he struggled to make batters miss early on. Kessler gave up four early hits and a walk, which amounted to four runs. He didn’t survive the inning and only secured two outs. Payton Sanders came in for relief and struck out the first batter he faced to end the inning.

Sanders was efficient throughout the rest of the matchup. He finished the game for Montgomery Central and totaled 5.1 innings pitched, 8 strikeouts, 1 earned run, 1 hit and 3 walks.

Nevertheless, the damage had already been done in the game after the first inning. Montgomery Central got within one run twice during the contest but were unable to overcome the deficit. They got their final chance to tie the game in the top of the seventh. The Indians failed to take advantage of two runners in scoring position after a two-out double by Owen. Montgomery Central’s extensive postseason run came to an abrupt and sudden end.

Coach’s corner

“Like all season, our team never gave up, and we did not give up in the last inning of play,” said Montgomery Central head coach Todd Dunn. “In both games we played in the state tournament, we came up a hit or two short. That happens in baseball.

“The coaches and community are very proud of this team. We are on pace to lose a number of great seniors, but we have a strong core coming back next season. I hope everyone takes this experience and grows from it.”

Dunn said his favorite thing about this year’s team was that they were great players to be around. He also said the group knew how to play the right way, which led to their “amazing” postseason run.