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A regular-season championship appeared gone after a loss at front-runner Salisbury last Tuesday, but as fate would have it, the Panthers come into tonight’s finale versus rival East Davidson with new life. Thanks to North Rowan’s shocking upset over the Hornets, Ledford, with a victory over the Golden Eagles, will share a piece of the CCC pie with Salisbury and the winner of the West Davidson/Central Davidson showdown just down 1-85 in Southmont.
“We had a couple of tough weeks,” LHS coach Chris Adams said. “The main thing is that we have a group of seniors who want to lead and who want to do the right thing. They know that with the break we got with North Rowan beating Salisbury, that kind of shot a new life into us. We know we can at least share the title.”
On Saturday, the Panthers (8-3, 16-6) got to step out of the CCC and re-focus on baseball in the Hi-Toms Classic against the Trinity Bulldogs. Playing without the pressure of the conference grind, Ledford got back to basics and came away with a solid 6-1 victory that included some very encouraging news in the final inning as staff ace Justin Livengood took the mound for the first time in two weeks
“It was nice seeing No. 7 out there to finish it up,” Adams said of Livengood. “We just tried to have him locate some fastballs. He threw around 20 pitches, which was good work for him. We’ve got to have them all this week. We have to make sure we win Tuesday night then get ready for the [conference] tournament. We’re looking at possibly four games in six days so we need everyone ready to throw.”
Under a blistering hot sun, the Panthers offense pounded out 10 hits versus Trinity and starter Cory Alcon went six innings, allowing only five hits with four strikeouts. Livengood tripled in Ledford’s first run in the bottom of the first and Jacob Scott’s three-bagger in the second plated two more for a 3-0 Panther advantage. Ledford, however, did strand seven runners on base through the first three innings before cashing in big in the fourth.
Trinity reliever Andrew Elks managed to wiggle out of a bases loaded jam in the third, but the Panthers touched the righty mightily in the fourth. Three of the first four batters reached base to start the frame as Livengood and Sam Berrier drove in runs, pushing the lead to five. Alcon helped his own cause with an RBI knock to center as LHS surged up 6-0.
“We sat down after the Salisbury game and had a real long talk,” Livengood said. “We found out where everybody was and how something had to change. We feel like we are making that change in the right direction.”
Needing to see how Livengood would fair before the post-season Adams sent his right-hander to the mound in the bottom of the seventh. Livengood did walk two of the first three hitters and his wild pitch allowed the Bulldogs to score their lone run, but he settled down and fanned the last two batters.
“It felt good,” said Livengood of his ailing right shoulder. “It felt like I hadn’t done it [pitch] in forever. It’s just getting back into the swing of things and we’ll start throwing more and get my arm to feeling good. I haven’t thrown in two weeks and it’s hard to go throw yourself out there and throw strikes.
“We have pretty much flushed out everything that has happened in the past week. Things have happened that have given us a second chance. We feel like since we’ve been given that, we’re not going to let it slip away. We’re ready to play and we came out and had a real good game and we’ll just go from here.”
Ledford can snatch the second seed in this week’s CCC tournament with a win over East (3-8, 6-12) tonight and a West (8-3, 15-6) victory over Central (8-3, 13-7). If the Panthers fall, they lock up the third seed. Should LHS and CDHS prevail, a coin flip decides the No. 2 seed.
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 233, or at eliotduke@hotmail.com.