FOREST — Junior catcher Ben Holley was one of several Jefferson Forest players to swing a hot bat Wednesday night in the quarterfinal round of the Region 4D tournament.
Asked for an explanation of his night, Holley had a quick reply.
“There’s just something about the playoffs,” he said.
There certainly is. It’s win or go home, as Holley pointed out.
And Jefferson Forest came home a lot against visiting Pulaski County at Thacker Field. Twelve times, in fact.
JF players pounded the ball off three Cougars pitchers, Griffin Agee and Jacob Helbling combined for 11 strikeouts and JF won, 12-4.
“We really want to come out here and show our seniors how much we care about them,” Holley said, referencing the snare posed by the single-elimination tourney. “We wanna fight for them with everything we have. If that means hitting the crap out of the ball, we’re gonna do that. If that means turning double plays, we’re gonna do that. If it means throwing strikes, we’re gonna do that.”
The JF defense turned two double plays and Agee earned the win, overcoming a shaky start to fan seven in 4 2/3 innings.
The junior lefty hadn’t made an appearance since JF played Amherst on May 7. He yielded eight hits, four runs (two earned) and walked four.
“Nice to be back, definitely,” Agee said. “There’s a few things here and there that we can adjust, but when you break it down I’m gonna be alright. The team’s gonna be alright.”
Holley was 2 for 4, Hunter Morrison went 2 for 5 with 3 RBIs and Luke Fowler led JF by going 3 for 4 with an RBI. Those players, the first three in the JF lineup, had seven of the team’s 11 hits.
The third-seeded Cavaliers (16-5) now face No. 2 Salem (13-3) on Tuesday at Salem’s Kiwanis Field.
Liberty Christian looked to have a lock on the region as the undefeated No. 1 seed and defending Class 4 state champ, but the Bulldogs were knocked off in shocking fashion by William Byrd on Wednesday. So the field, which includes Amherst on the other side of the bracket, is suddenly wide open.
“They’re loaded,” Holley said of LCA, which beat JF twice in the regular season. “So that was always scary. But now that they’re done, that gives us a whole lot more confidence, because now we feel like we’re the best team in the division.”
Pulaski was led by Chris Remington, who went 3 for 4 and made an impressive behind-the-back grab in relief on a ball hit up the middle.
Shortstop Griffin Wooldridge added two hits for the Cavs, while outfielder Jaylen Calloway drove in three runs.
“The bats were great,” Agee said. “That’s something we’ve said all year. Once we get hitting with fielding and pitching, it’s gonna be a hard thing to stop.”