CANEY — It was a battle to secure the Tri-Valley League title for the Humboldt High baseball team at Caney Valley on Monday.
The Cubs (19-1) relied on a dominant pitching performance in game one from Trey Sommer to propel them to a 3-0 victory. Sommer allowed three hits and struck out 12 over seven innings
In game two, the Cubs offense came through late and scored six runs over the final two innings for a 14-12 win.
Humboldt led by seven runs heading to the sixth before Caney Valley responded with seven runs of its own to knot the ballgame in the bottom of the sixth.
Game one
Sommer was lights out on the mound. The dominant start allowed Humboldt’s bats to get going in the top of the second and the fifth innings when the Cubs plated the only three runs they would need.
“We had to work for it tonight,” Humboldt head coach Mike Miller said. “We knew coming in that we had to sweep to win the outright league title. Trey was great once again. We needed him to be great because we weren’t able to do much offensively.”
Humboldt struck for two runs in the top of the third inning before they brought one more run across in the fifth. Sam Hull and Blake Ellis each drove home one run while Colden Cook, Cole Mathes, Hull and Ellis each knocked one hit.
Hull smashed a home run in the top of the fifth to put Humboldt ahead, 3-0. Ellis’ RBI came on a two-out hit in the third inning after the Cubs took advantage of some errors to score.
“Sam Hull had a big game at the plate,” said Miller. “He came up clutch with big hits in key situations every time. Jacob Harrington has been struggling a bit at the plate lately and he came up with a huge leadoff double in the top of the eighth to really get us going.”
Nate Kaminska started on the mound for Caney Valley and was touched with three runs on four hits through 6.2 innings. He also struck out six Cubs but Humboldt earned all their damage off Kaminska. Payton Darden recorded the final out for the Bullpups.
Game two
The Cubs were much more aggressive at the plate in the second game of the afternoon, a 14-12 victory for the road team.
Humboldt was able to score eight runs early through the first three innings and compiled an 8-1 lead. Hull had a team-high four RBIs and four hits.
Logan Page started on the mound for the Cubs and went 4.2 innings, allowing only one run on six hits and struck out seven Bullpups. Kyler Isbell threw the sixth inning and served up seven runs on two hits with two strikeouts.
