By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The Munford Cougars earned the right to officially host the 2019 District 13-3A Baseball Tournament after eliminating the Liberty Crusaders earlier this week in the District 13-3A Play-in game.
Munford’s reward was a First Round showdown with the No. 1 seeded Hardin County Tigers Friday night on the Munford Baseball Field. The Cougars were on their way toward an upset keeping the Tigers scoreless for three innings.
Then Hardin County erupted for four runs in the fourth inning including a three-run blast from Nick McFall to prevail over the Cougars 4-0. The Tigers advanced in the winner’s bracket to play the Brighton Cardinals, 6-0 winners over the Dyer County Choctaws.
The Cougars moved on to the elimination game to face the Choctaws. Munford had hopes of advancing in the winner’s bracket behind the solid pitching of ace Jacob Smith. Smith struck out multiple Tigers in the first three innings.
Then Hardin County was able to piece together a couple of hits to take a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. McFall came to the plate a couple of batters later and crushed a homer to give the Tigers a 4-0 advantage.
Smith settled down after the home run and matched Hardin County starter Chance Bishop pitch-for-pitch. Bishop’s performance was good enough to keep the Cougars scoreless and help the Tigers advance one win away from the Region 7-3A Baseball Tournament.
