Wrapping up a winning season, the WCMS junior varsity baseball team defeated Coffee County’s Red Raiders 5-1 Tuesday night at Pioneer Field for the championship.
“We are very proud of these young men,” said WCMS coach Chad Young. “They never got down on themselves and they always stayed up. Baseball is a very mentality driven game and if you get down on yourself you might as well hang it up.”
“These guys definitely have the fight and the heart to win each time they play,” Young continued. “They deserve this win and everybody on this team contributed to this championship.”
Championship Game WCMS wins 5-1
Each team scored 1 run in the first inning.  The Pioneers scored as Raleigh Gilliam led off with a walk, stole second and third, and crossed home on a passed ball, 1-1. Coffee County wouldn’t score again the rest of the game. 
The Pioneers got one run in the bottom of the fifth as Briley Moore led off the inning with a single, moved to third off a double by Eli Kuykendall, and scored on a sacrifice bunt by Chance Hunter, 2-1.
The Pioneer bats would heat up one last time in the bottom of the sixth as Curtlan George led off with a single to left.  Will Vance reached on a fielding error and both runners were advanced by Kyle Johnson with a sacrifice bunt. Ashton Forth drove in George and Vance on a hard-hit single to left, 4-1. Forth scored on a single to center by Briley Moore making the final score 5-1.
Pioneer pitching only allowed 1 run as Kyle Johnson took the mound first to start the game and pitched 4 innings with 2 strikeouts, 1 walk, 5 hits, and 1 run. Layne Roberts threw for 3 innings with 3 strikeouts, 1 hit and 0 runs and earned the win.
Hit leaders: Briley Moore 2-for-3, 2 RBIs, 1 run scored, Curtlan George 2-for-3, 1 run scored, Will Vance 1-for-2, 1 run scored and Ashton Forth 1-for-3, 2 RBIs, 1 run scored.
The road to the championship game came through Franklin North.
In game one of the series, the Pioneers took on the Gators and won in nine innings, 6-5. 
The Pioneers came right out of the gate scoring 2 runs in each of the first 2 innings on hits from Raleigh Gilliam, Eli Kuykendall, and Chance Hunter. After 2 innings, the score was 4-1 Pioneers. 
Pitching for both teams locked down the scoring until the top of the sixth when Franklin North scored 2 runs on a couple of walks, a hit batter and error making the score 4-3.
North scored 2 more runs in the top of the seventh on a hit and couple of walks to go ahead 5-4.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Pioneers took advantage of two North fielding errors. Layne Roberts led off reaching first on a throwing error from shortstop, and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Briley Moore. 
Curtlan George got a single to left scoring Roberts and tying the game 5-5. The Pioneer defense and pitching would hold of North for two more innings until the Pioneers would once again capitalize on North fielding errors as Layne Roberts reached first in the bottom of the ninth on an error by the North second baseman. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Briley Moore. Will Vance moved Roberts to third as he reached first on an error by the shortstop. Curtlan George once again came through in the clutch as he laid down a bunt sending Roberts to the plate for the winning run. 
WCMS used four pitchers during the 9-inning game. 
Kyle Johnson started the game and pitched 4 innings with 6 strikeouts, 3 walks, allowing only 1 hit and 1 run. Jake Rains pitched 1.6 innings with 4 walks, 2 hits, and 2 runs, Chance Hunter pitched 1 inning with 1 strikeout, 2 walks, 2 hits, 2 runs and Layne Roberts got the win pitching 2.3 innings with 5 strikeouts, 0 hits and 0 runs.
Hit leaders: Raleigh Gilliam 3-for-4, 2 runs scored, Eli Kuykendall 3-for-4, 2 RBIs, 2 runs scored, Chance Hunter 2-for-5, 2 RBIs, Briley Moore 1-for-3, Cooper Thurman 1-for-4 and Curtlan George 2-for-5, 1 RBI.