Nolensville 5
By Cory Woodroof

STORY BY MITCHELL STEPHENSON | PHOTO BY WHITNEY JARRELD 

The Nolensville Knights saw their baseball season just fall short of a chance at a state title.

The team dropped a 7-3 contest to Covington Thursday afternoon in the Class AA semifinals, ending their postseason run.

This game is a rematch from earlier in the tournament. Covington defeated Nolensville 12-4 the day before in game 8 of the championship bracket.

Covington brought the bats early in the top of the first inning as Austin Baskins hit a home run giving Covington a 1-0 lead.

Nolensville responded with fireworks of their own in the bottom of the 1st. Dawson Condor hit an RBI single bringing Tyler Smith to score, 1-1. Then with Jackson Hill on base Tyler Hammonds hit an RBI double allowing Smith to cross home plate, and giving the Knights a 2-1 lead.

The lead didn’t last long as in the very next inning Covington kept the offensive explosion coming. Carter Davis hit a home run over the left field wall, evening the game at 2-2. Then with Stanton Connell on base, Weston Martin hit a home run bringing in two more runs, 4-2 Covington. This was the third home run in just the second inning. It became obvious that Nolensville would need to bring plenty of offense today to win this contest.

In the bottom of the second Nolensville again responded when Hill singled, bringing in Bryan Cluck for the score, 4-3.

However, in the third inning Covington kept the fireworks coming. Stanton Connell hit and RBI single bringing home Rob Hendren. Then Landon Myers grounded into a double play but it allowed Christian Delashmit to score, 6-3 Covington.

In the fifth with Hammonds at second and Cluck at 1st, the Knights were in prime position to put some points on the board, and make a run towards victory, as they’ve done all year. But Covington’s pitcher Carter Davis struck out Tyler Hummel, stranding the runners and ending a much needed scoring opportunity. Both defenses have picked up as the next three innings were scoreless.

In the seventh inning Nolensville made a pitching change. Starter Jared Steltmann was replaced by Hummel. Steltmann finished the day pitching six innings. He threw 110 pitches, recorded 62 strikes and gave up six runs. He adjusted well after the three big home runs early in the contest.

In the seventh, Covington kept the pressure  up scoring another run, making it 7-3. In the bottom of the inning Nolensville was fired up to display another last inning scoring fest as they’ve done so many times this season. But it was not meant to be. Covington held on for the 7-3.

Knights Head Coach Zach Hudson talked about the game, and reflected on the season.

“We played hard,” he said. “We asked them to be tough. We’ve been tested all week. We had a tough road [Wednesday] with losing a 12:30 game, and then turned around and had to play at 5:00. In the heat, with Catcher Carson Robbie catching 14 innings, and turned around and asked him to catch today, and out team was tough.

“We showed up expecting to play 2 games. We weren’t able to do it, and it stings. And it’s supposed to. Now with this being the first time that we’ve lost seniors it hurts even more. These guys have given me everything, and they’ve given this program everything so when you do that it hurts when it’s over with.”

Hudson spoke to the team’s mindset exiting the tournament.

“That’s kind of where we’re feeling right now, and once we get away from it, we’ll be able to look back and feel proud about what we’ve done, but right now it just hurts so we’re just trying to work through that a little bit,” he said.

After the game the team, and Coach Hudson got a standing ovation from the Nolensville faithful who traveled to Murfreesboro to support the Knights.