Game 1 on the way to a State Championship
West opened the tournament at 9:45 Friday morning by defeating an unbeaten South Caldwell team (28-0), 8-7. West jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st. Jack Sherrill led off with a walk and moved to third on a double by Brad Ragan. Tyler Marshburn promptly deposited a three run homer to right field to get the Cats rolling. South Caldwell answered with a single run in the bottom of the first, but would be kept in check by starting pitcher Kodi Whitley until the 6th inning. Meanwhile, West scored three runs in the 3rd and two more in the 4th to stretch the lead to 8-1 after five complete innings. Sophomore Justin Carroll contributed a double and triple with 3 RBI and Thomas Hill added a run-scoring single during that stretch. West held off a furious South Caldwell rally as they scored six runs over the last two innings before Marshburn ended the game with a strikeout. Whitley was the winning pitcher.
Game 2
The game was against Kernersville on Sunday, July 18. After rain pushed the tournament back a day, West defeated Kernersville 9-2 behind a complete game effort by Justin Carroll (seven strikeouts). Once again, as the visiting team, West jumped on top early scoring four runs in the 1st inning. Bases loaded walks by Carroll and Catcher Matthew Parrish scored the first two runs. Adam Morrison contributed a run scoring single and Kessler Sorrell was hit by a pitch to finish the scoring in the 1st. The Cats would put the game out of reach with five runs over the last three innings. Parrish had a two run single; Hill and Sherrill each had RBI during that stretch. Trey Lee, Aaron McGee and Trey Baker all had singles as well.
Game 3
The third round was the winners' bracket final against the four-time state champion Cary Bulls on Monday, July 19. Though West had beaten the Bulls twice during the regular season to earn the conference championship, this game meant more, as a berth in the state title game was on the line. The outcome was no different than the earlier two games and the result was never in doubt.
Tyler Marshburn threw a complete game and the offense pounded four Bulls pitchers for 14 hits to win 14-5 and move West Johnston into the state title game. Alex Espada was a perfect four for four with 4 RBI. He and Parrish both had two run singles in a five run top of the 1st. Espada would add another two run single in the 2nd as West stretched their lead to 10-0. Parrish had three hits, Carroll and Sherrill two each, while Ragan reached base all five times he stepped to the plate and scored three runs.
Game 4
Due to a quirk in the bracket, Game 4 for West was a rematch Monday evening against South Caldwell who had advanced to the final four with losers' bracket wins against Leland and Kernersville. Regardless of the outcome, the Cats were guaranteed a berth in the title game on Tuesday. West did their best to eliminate them by jumping out to an early 4-1 lead but in the end, a resilient South Caldwell team showed why they were undefeated coming into the tournament and defeated the Cats 6-4. Aaron McGee had an excellent outing on the mound, cruising through five innings only allowing two hits. Unfortunately, South Caldwell would score five runs in the bottom of the 6th without hitting a ball hard. Such is the game of baseball. Espada would relieve McGee and finish the 6th for West. Tyler Marshburn hit his second two run HR in the 2nd inning and added an RBI double in the 3rd. Brad Ragan's RBI sacrifice fly to right accounted for West's other run. Jack Sherrill with two hits and two runs, and Matthew Parrish with two hits contributed to the offense. Adam Morrison and Thomas Hill had singles as well. Though down after losing the first game in the tournament, the Wildcats were still focused on the mission, which was to win the state title. West would get that shot on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.
Game 5 The State Championship
Tuesday, July 20. West was able to watch South Caldwell and Mooresville play the noon game with the winner advancing to face them for the title afterward. Defending state champion Mooresville defeated SC in nine innings to earn the right to defend their title. Starting pitcher Kodi Whitley and stellar defense retired 10 straight batters over three plus innings to give the offense time to get going. Jack Sherrill led off the bottom of the 1st with a single. Brad Ragan drew a walk to put runners on 1st and 2nd. After a failed pick off attempt, both runners advanced to 2nd and 3rd. Then, a Marshburn groundout failed to score a run, but Justin Carroll laced a two run single to give the team a lead they would never relinquish. After Mooresville closed the lead to 2-1 in the 3rd, Matthew Parrish promptly answered with a two run HR to right field, scoring Ragan, who had been hit by a pitch and stretching the lead to 4-1. Thomas Hill's two run single in the 5th made it 6-1. Justin Carroll delivered the knockout blow for West in the bottom of the 6th. Kessler Sorrell led off the inning by drawing a walk. After two quick outs, Marshburn drew a walk as well. Carroll followed Marshburn with a drive to left center that barely eluded a diving centerfielder. Not only did Ragan and Marshburn score easily, but Carroll motored about the diamond for an inside the park HR making the score 9-1. Mooresville would add a meaningless run in the 7th before Whitley finished his complete game gem by getting a groundout to third baseman setting off a dogpile by the pitcher's mound. Ragan scored three runs, Carroll had 5 RBI, Parrish and Hill each with 2 RBI to pace the offense.
West finished 28-3 on the summer. They were conference champs and then finished the season as
state champs. They were the number one team in the Junior Legion.
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