Senior Brayden Grimm went 3-for-5 with two doubles, senior Caleb Obee went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs as Kenton Ridge finished its season 22-6.
“It was a great high school baseball game,” said Cougars coach Aaron Shaffer. “It’s one of those you hate to see somebody lose. We felt confident coming into this game with where we were at and we were playing well. JA is the No. 1 team in the state, but we felt very confident coming into this game. It lived up to the hype.”
Senior Logan Fyffe and junior Zach Deel each had two hits and a double for Kenton Ridge, which lost for the first time since April 29.
Jonathan Alder took an early 2-0 lead on a home run by senior Garrett Roach. The Cougars cut the lead to 2-1 on an RBI single by Obee, but the Pioneers added two more runs in the second inning to make it 4-1.
Kenton Ridge added another run in the second inning to make it 4-2. The Cougars added five more runs in the fifth inning to give Kenton Ridge a 7-4 lead.
Jonathan Alder senior Chase Chopin tripled in the sixth inning, scoring two runs to tie the game.
Kenton Ridge put runners on base in both the seventh and eighth inning, but weren’t able to take the lead.
“We had some chances to win in the seventh and eighth and just couldn’t get a key hit,” Shaffer said. “It was one of those games where you look at 20 different plays that could’ve decided the game.”
With runners on first and third with one out in the top of the ninth, Jonathan Alder senior Greg Kennedy hit into a fielder’s choice to give the Pioneers an 8-7 lead. The Pioneers retired Kenton Ridge in order to seal the victory. Jonathan Alder (27-2) advanced to play sixth-ranked Hamilton Badin (25-6) in a D-II regional final game on Friday.
“It was a fun game to be a part of,” Shaffer said. “You just hate that you walk out on the wrong end of it. … The guys wanted it so bad and you just hate it for them, especially the seniors.”
The Cougars will graduate seven seniors — Grimm, Obee, Fyffe, Bryce Smith, Braden Smith, Miles Miesse and Nathan Cox — who won 79 games during their careers, including a Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division title in 2021 and the program’s first district championship since 2008.
“They were a very successful class,” Shaffer said. “Winning 20 games in high school, that’s hard to do when sometimes you’re only playing 25 or 27 and you’re winning 20 of them — that’s tough to do. It’s a great group of guys and I’m proud of what they’ve done. You just wish we could’ve pulled that one out.”
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