CLEAN SWEEP: WC South, BG East squads win District titles

Published 1:18 pm Thursday, June 26, 2025

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Warren County South pitcher Grayson Krantz (27) celebrates hitting a triple to bring two runners home in the third inning in South’s 14-0 win over Daviess County in the Little League 10-11 All Stars District 1 championship at Basil Griffin Park on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / BOWLING GREEN DAILY NEWS

Grayson Krantz didn’t need much in the way of run support in Wednesday’s District 1 Little League 10-11 year-old championship at Basil Griffin Park.

His teammates gave him plenty anyway.

Krantz fired a no-hitter for Warren County South’s all-stars in a 14-0 win against Daviess County that took just four innings, earning WCS a spot in the state tournament later this month at Graham Memorial Park in Lebanon. Pool play starts July 19.

To get there, WCS leaned on the right arm of Krantz.

“He was awesome,” WC South manager Jeff Lobb said of Krantz. “We couldn’t have asked him to do more than he went out there and did. It was just an awesome game on his part.”

Krantz allowed no hits and just three walks to minimize the base runners. He struck out one batter, but leaned on a solid defense – WC South committed just one error – to stay out of trouble.

WC South backed Krantz with plenty of offense, plating three runs in the top of the first inning. Nash Gaebler capped the rally with an RBI ground-rule double to put his team up 3-0.

In the top of the third, WC South broke the game open with a six-run outburst. Krantz got the scoring started with a two-run double. Gaebler followed with an RBI single, then Pax James and Samuel Kim delivered back-to-back RBI singles to boost the lead to 7-0. Another run came home on a throwing error and Trapper Reber capped the scoring with another RBI single.

WC South kept the bats producing in the fourth. Kim drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single, Ryder Stinson stroked a two-run double and Uryah Miller plated the game’s final run with an RBI single.

“Our bats were just killing it,” Lobb said. “We were hitting baseballs left and right. These kids, they are young and they’ve fought. We’ve got four 10-year-olds on the team and I think half of our 11-year-olds literally turned 11 this summer.”

Krantz went 2-for-2 with a double, three runs scored and two RBIs. James was 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI, Gaebler was 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs, Kim went 2-for-3 with two doubles and four RBIs, Stinson tallied a pair of RBIs and Miller finished with one RBI.

11-12s

BG East 12, Owensboro Southern 3

Bowling Green East’s All-Stars spotted Owensboro Southern a three-run lead, then erased it over the next three innings.

After Owensboro Southern posted a three-run first inning, BG East went to work.

In the bottom of the first, Tristian Britt got BG East on the scoreboard with an RBI double and another run came around to score on a throwing error to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Then in the bottom of the third, Ryan Roby knotted the score at 3-all with an RBI single. Later in the inning, Grady Ross unloaded on a fastball for a three-run home run to center field that put BG East up 6-3.

BG East kept up the pressure in the fourth with another three-run rally. Grant Hudnall drove in a run and Carter Dorsey had an RBI single in the rally.

Three more runs came across in the bottom of the fifth. Elijah Perkins ripped an RBI double, then a run scored on a wild pitch and Hayden Huff followed with an RBI single.

All that run support was ample for Ross, who pitched a complete game to earn the win. He struck out seven over six innings.

“They’ve put in three weeks of six days a week, two hours and they were challenged both physically and mentally,” BG East assistant coach Kyle Roby said. “We always say bend, don’t break, and that’s exactly what they did. They bent in the first inning, then clawed back inning by inning and got the lead, and then slammed the door shut in the sixth.”

Britt was 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI, Ross went 2-for-3 with a home run, a double and three RBIs, Huff was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, Perkins tallied a double and two RBIs, Ryan Roby notched an RBI and scored two runs, and Hudnall and Dorsey each added an RBI in the win.

BG East advances to the state tournament later this month at Graham Memorial Park in Lebanon. Pool play starts July 19.

“If you go back and look at some of our stats, we had kids that were barreling balls right at people,” Kyle Roby said. “A lot of times, we’re sitting there and it’s ‘Great it,’ but it’s right to someone. Their averages don’t reflect how well we hit it, top to bottom, throughout this tournament. And it takes all 12 of them. We don’t just rely on one guy. We had great pitching tonight from Grady, had great pitching last night from Elijah. It can be any given kid on this team.”

9-10s

BG East 8, Owensboro Southern 1

Bowling Green East’s 9-10 All-Stars built an early lead, built on it and coasted to an 8-1 win in the District 1 championship against Owensboro Southern.

After grabbing a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, BG East created plenty of separation with a four-run second inning.

“This whole tournament we’ve been aggressive at the plate and they just came out and hit the ball like they have been,” BG East manager Jef Goodnight said. “They hit it good in the first inning too, hit a couple right at them. That second inning kind of broke it open and we just kind of went on from there.”

BG East led by six runs when Owensboro Southern finally broke through for a run in the bottom of the fourth. BG East answered with two more runs in the top of the fifth to set the final score at 8-1.

Ryker Adams went 2-for-2 with a triple and scored two runs, Will Woodward was 2-for-2 with a double, Beckham Jewell was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Austin Benter was 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored and Max Goff was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. Also for BG East, Todd Norwood tallied an RBI triple, Berenger Krueger notched a double and an RBI and Mason White tallied an RBI.

Benter started and earned the win, allowing one run over 3 1/3 innings while striking out four. Jewell finished up with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, striking out four.

BG East advances to the state tournament later this month at Graham Memorial Park in Lebanon. Pool play starts July 19.

“Austin Benter pitched a heckuva game, threw strikes,” Goodnight said. “Our defense was just solid. You think about this team, there’s really not a whole lot of weaknesses. We’ve got a great defense, we hit the ball good and we’ve got a bunch of pitching.”

About Jeff Nations

Sports Editor, Bowling Green Daily News

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