CRESTVIEW — Day two of the Justin Richards Scholarship Baseball Tournament on Friday started and ended just as the first day of the tournament, with Crestview High School wins.
“The kids have really played well and that’s a testament to them,” Crestview Coach Tim Gillis said. “They really understand if you are efficient on the mound and play good defense you have a chance.
“I’m really proud of both teams.”
Sandwiched between the Bulldog victories were a couple of losses by Baker School’s baseball team.
Friday action from Justin Richards photos>>>
Gray 3, Northview 2:
Crestview twins Milt and Rod Bouchard had the Chiefs seeing double and the Crestview coaches smiling with satisfaction.
Milt, the Gray shortstop, pulled Crestview into a 1-1 tie in the fourth inning with a RBI single that scored courtesy runner Jeremy Willis.
Northview managed to wrestle the lead away from the Bulldogs with a run in the sixth setting up the heroics for Rod Bouchard, who catches and was up to the challenge.
Crestview was down to its last out in the bottom of the seventh with Matt French on third and Devin Williamson on second. Rod Bouchard drove the first pitch he saw to left field to score the runners and give Crestview the win.
Northview 11, Baker 2:
District rivals squared off in the tournament and Northview fresh off an appearance in the Class 1A final four showed they meant business.
The Chiefs scored three runs in the first inning, two in the second, two in the third and three in the fourth as they made quick work of the Gators.
Baker scored it’s only runs in the third inning.
Garritt Pourcillie had a one-out single and scored. Peyton Rockwell reached on an error and scored.
Chandler Rockwell and Conner Dupree also had hits for the Gators.
Choctaw 4, Baker 0:
A tough tournament ended for the Gators with their best performance.
Gabe Nelson went the distance on the mound for Baker as the Gators kept things close in the loss.
Baker Coach Adam Henry said the tournament will be a learning experience for a team that had several starters missing while attending a church camp.
“We are short handed so it’s tough pitching wise, that’s for sure,” Henry said. “ We battled. We’ve got a lot of learning to do, but we’ll get there.”
Red 15, Choctawhatchee 0:
Fans arriving on time for the scheduled 4:30 p.m. game were out of luck and so were the Indians.
A smooth-running tournament allowed the game to start 45 minutes early and that seemed to be just to the liking of the Red team that scored six runs in the first, four in the second and five in the third.
Every Red team batter scored a run except Brayden Moore, but he dsid his part by driving in a run with an infield out.
Zach Degraaf, Vincent Weslowoski and Trey Herring each scored twice. Degraaf got things started with a lead off triple and things snowballed from there.
Corey Armstrong had two hits and drove in two runs. Carlos Torres plated two runs with a single up the middle in the third.
Seth Forrest worked three innings on the mound to get the win. Dayne Justice threw the fourth inning for the Red.
“We haven’t played many (games), but yeah (it was probably the best they had hit the ball),” Gillis said. “We put some hits together and had some good at bats and found some holes.
“We swung the bats well. I thought we swung them well all day.”
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This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview cranks it up at Justin Richards (PHOTOS, VIDEO)