A walk off wild pitch to West’s Devin Carter by Brooks Lions starting pitcher Kyler Murks gave the Wildcats an 8-7 victory against the Brooks Lions, completing a two-game sweep Thursday at West Limestone High School. This came after defeating the Lions at Brooks High School 4-0 Tuesday due in large part to the strong pitching performances of starter Colin Patterson and closer Logan Martin. Patterson tallied 13 strikeouts in that game.

West used three pitchers in Thursday’s game, however, giving up a total of 15 hits. Cooper Phillips started the game going three innings, allowing seven hits, four runs, zero walks with two strikeouts. Ryan Britt came in for relief, going two innings, allowing two runs on five hits. Logan Martin closed the game out for the Wildcats with a final line of two innings pitched, three hits allowed, one run and one walk with two strikeouts.

The Wildcats came away with nine hits. Braxton Griffin and Brody White both went two for four, with one RBI apiece. Griffin had two doubles. River Helms led the team with two RBIs, going one for three at the plate with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth. Phillips finished with one hit and one RBI in three at-bats. Thorne Slaton, Colin Patterson and Devin Carter each had one hit, the walk off wild pitch being Carter’s most important at bat in the bottom of the seventh. Britt had one RBI.

“Every guy in the lineup contributed at some point to get us the win including River Helms home run that got our team going. Cooper Phillips, Ryan Britt, and Logan Martin did outstanding on the mound to keep us in the game,” West head coach Ryan Griffin said.

Now officially area champions, Griffin couldn’t be prouder of his team.

“Brooks has a great reputation of for being scrappy and usually win games like that, so it felt great to be able to keep the energy up and never quit,” he said. “It was one of those games that each and every out was critical. It’s difficult to point to one player or play to give credit for the win. It was just truly a team effort from top to bottom.”

West’s overall record moves to 21-5.