Stealing home. Stealing hearts. Whitley County captures its first baseball state title.
On a stage very few 13th Region teams had ever set foot on and none had conquered, Whitley County dared to be great.
The Colonels held a slim, 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning and had a small threat brewing with runners at first and third base with two outs.
Whitley County’s third-base runner, Sam Harp, knew the play. But he’d have to time it just right.
Take a good lead.
Wait for the pitcher to check teammate Matthew Wright at first base.
Go.
“The second I take off, the first-base runner has to take off,” Harp explained. “Hopefully, the pitcher looks at the guy on first.”
He did.
“I knew he had no shot at getting me at home,” Harp said, smiling.
Harp’s burst to the plate stunned Shelby County and the 3,501 in attendance at Kentucky Proud Park.
“It was electric. I saw all of our fans. They were already on their feet just cheering away,” Harp said. “It was so awesome.”
The Colonels went on to defeat the Rockets 2-1 on Saturday in Kentucky high school baseball’s state championship game to become the first baseball state champ out of the 13th Region and the only Whitley County state champion other than its 1985 Girls’ Sweet 16 basketball team.
“Our record before was 38-4. There was no doubt in my mind, we could go win this game,” said Whitley starting pitcher Grant Zehr, who earned the tournament’s most valuable player honors. “As a senior, this is the last game. You just give it all you got, man. I gave it all I got. It’s just crazy. It’s a crazy feeling.”
Zehr’s mix of offspeed pitches and curveballs flummoxed Shelby County for much of the game as he allowed only one run on three hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
“He’s just an absolute bulldog. He has two saves and a win in this thing. And he just grinds it out, man,” Whitley County Coach Jeremy Shope said. “That’s the guy we wanted on the mound. We threw Mason Croley last night, knowing that Mason could win and knowing that Grant Zehr is going to win if we get to the state championship.”
Shope builds another contender
The state title was the first for Shope in three runs to the finals. The longtime Mercer County head coach finished runner-up with the Titans in 2011 and 2013. He stepped away from the high school game in 2016 before reemerging at Whitley County in 2018.
“I wanted to taste this thing. Not for me, but always for my guys,” Shope said. “I wanted them to have that moment.”
When Shope took over the Colonels, they’d never won a baseball regional and hadn’t even made the region tournament since 2005. He fixed that his first season. He took them to a region championship and state quarterfinals appearance three years later. Now this.
“I had a special group of kids that bought in from day one and got this thing rolling,” Shope said. “To all the alumni who put all their hard work and blood sweat and tears into our program, we’re winning this thing for you all.”
Quick lead for Whitley County
Whitley County took a lead in the game’s first few moments. Bryce Anderson led off with a hard-hit triple to the right-center field gap. Harp then tomahawked a one-out grounder to second to get the RBI and a 1-0 lead for the Colonels.
Whitley barely threatened again until Harp drew a leadoff walk in the top of the sixth that ended the night for Shelby County starter Jack Wills. Reliever Carter White got a pair of flyouts, but Whitley’s Wright singled up the middle to put runners at first and third to set up the double steal.
“We have that play in and it’s unbelievable that it happened at the right moment,” Shope said. “You run those things all year long, and the guys don’t see it. But when we did run it, we executed it.”
Shelby County momentum snuffed
Shelby answered in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single by Foster Whisman. But the Rockets’ would-be rally was short-circuited moments earlier by its own failed double steal. Shelby had runners at first and second with one out after Carter White singled and Kemper Whisman got hit by a pitch.
Both White and Kemper Whisman tried for a steal, but Whitley County catcher Hunter Wilson’s throw beat White to the bag and third baseman RJ Osborne’s sweeping tag netted the second out of the inning.
“Hats off to their pitcher. He was lights out early on, we couldn’t touch him,” Shelby County Coach Steve Kingsolver said. “We were struggling with the offspeed stuff. … It took us a minute to get adjusted. Once we did, I thought we did some good things. We just couldn’t get the momentum we were looking for.”
Shelby County finished the season 32-10 and made the school’s fifth state championship appearance. The Rockets won it all in 1979.
Whitley County closed out the season at 39-4. In addition to the other firsts the Colonels accomplished this year, they are the first mountain region team to win the state baseball title since Boyd County in 2001.
“It’s awesome but then also, dang, it’s over. I don’t want it to be over today,” Zehr said. “But this is the perfect way to end it.”
All-tournament team
Carson Shee, Eastern; Pierre Kauffmann, Lexington Catholic; Malachi Feeback, Harrison County; Ethan Reynolds, South Warren; Will Strode and Noah Cook, Apollo; Brennan Cates and Dru Meadows, Henderson County; Jack Wills, Kemper Whisman and Hunter Cook, Shelby County; Mason Croley, Matthew Wright and Grant Zehr (MVP), Whitley County.
Logan Billings Memorial Scholarship Recipient: Andrew Stack, Whitley County.
