RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesLETITIA, Ky. — Throughout its history, the Del Rice Baseball League has seen excellent baseball talents, and excellent baseball games, played at various locations throughout Scioto County, Ohio and Greenup County, Kentucky — none perhaps more notable to the league than Schultz Creek Field.
Monday evening’s Del Rice League Semifinal between Woody’s Woodpeckers and the TCC Bombs didn’t disappoint.
In a contest that featured standout pitching in clutch situations and a pair of defensive gems from both sides, it was the Woodpeckers — their name chosen as an ode to their manager, Woody Underwood — who emerged victorious on a walkoff as Lewis County alum Xavier Prater drove in the game-winning run with his RBI sacrifice fly to give the Woodpeckers a 2-1 win over the Bombs in the contest’s final at-bat Monday evening at Schultz Creek Field in Letitia, Ky.
“It’s a great feeling, honestly,” Woody’s Woodpecker third baseman Kyran Ferguson said. “Job’s not finished though. We still have one more game to go.”
Both units threatened with runners on the basepaths throughout the contest but were stymied, for the most part, by timely pitching and fielding from the opposite side.
Cayden Stevenson, who started on the bump for the Woodpeckers, struck out the side to begin the game and finished with four strikeouts while allowing just one hit in three innings of work before turning the ball over to Prater.
Prater, who started the contest at shortstop, threw four scoreless innings in relief and allowed just one hit himself while striking out five batters in all. Parker Jordan caught for both players.
A father-son duo combined to duel it out pound-for-pound on the TCC side.
The father, Carl Bradley, threw four innings of two-hit baseball while striking out four batters in making the start for the Bombs. The son, Mason — who just finished earning All-Ohio honors for Minford this past high school season — followed by striking out five of the first 10 batters that he faced.
Former Clay catcher and multi-sport athlete Tanner Richards caught the Bradley clan throughout the game.
Strong fielding by both teams helped back their respective starting batteries. The Woodpeckers loaded the bases in the bottom half of the opening frame, but a Carl Bradley strikeout of Kyran Ferguson and a 5-3 groundout by Luke Cheesbro ended the opening frame.
Recent Minford graduate Jacob Vititoe and Nate Heath reached first and second base with one out in the top of the second inning, but Ferguson made the first of two double plays on the evening with his five-unassisted-to-three double play to keep the contest scoreless.
In the third inning, TCC struck as walks by Sean Bower and David Duncan around a base knock by Caleb Nichols was followed by a sac fly RBI by Carl Bradley, giving the Bombs a 1-0 lead after three innings of play.
The Woodpeckers then answered in the fourth inning as Ferguson ripped a leadoff double that one-hopped off of the left center field fence, allowing No. 4 to guide in with a standup double.
Despite an excellent catch by TCC shortstop Nate Heath on a ball hit above his head by Jordan, the Woodpeckers battled through and tied the score after four innings complete, as Stevenson drove in Ferguson with his own sac fly RBI, knotting the game at one apiece.
With a runner on second base for the Woodpeckers, Heath helped extinguish the threat with another great defensive play by fielding a baseball on a short one-hopper to him at the shortstop position and throwing out Prater to end the fifth frame.
TCC then again worked out of trouble in the bottom of the sixth frame as after another double by Ferguson, a passed ball that put the third baseman at third with nobody out, and a walk by Cheesbro that put runners at the corners with nobody out, back-to-back-to-back strikeouts by Bradley kept the score knotted at one all heading into the seventh.
TCC then put Mason Bradley and Brandon White on to begin the inning, as an error and White’s single to center field put runners at first and second base with nobody out. But a strikeout by Prater and two groundouts held the Bombs off the scoreboard.
Mason Bradley struck out the Woodpeckers’ Derek Wampler to begin the bottom of the seventh, but two straight walks and a hit batter provided Prater, the team’s three-hole hitter, with the ammunition necessary to do damage with his walkoff sac fly.
“It’s pretty elite,” Woodpeckers first baseman Carson Underwood said.
“It’s thrilling,” Woodpeckers leadoff hitter Connor Plank added.
TCC, which mainly consists of Scioto County products, and the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, who are made up of individuals who hail from Lewis County, Ky., are among six teams who played in the 60th season of the Del Rice Baseball League. Named after 1953 MLB All-Star, two-time World Series Champion and longtime St. Louis Cardinals catcher Del Rice, who hailed from Portsmouth, the league has been played to a wide following throughout its existence.
“It’s been around for a long time and we’re grateful to play in it,” Ferguson said. “We’re just a group of guys playing baseball together and having fun doing it.”
The Woodpeckers, who held the best regular season record of any team entering tournament play at 11-1, and the Bombs, who were 6-6, ultimately played tight matchups in all four contests in 2026 against each other.
During the regular season, Woody’s Woodpeckers defeated TCC 4-3, 3-0 and 1-0 along with its 2-1 win in the Del Rice Baseball League Semifinals.
The Woodpeckers will play the winner of the additional Del Rice Baseball League Semifinal between the Spider Monkeys and Post 23 on Saturday, Aug. 8 at Hatcher Field in Portsmouth at 1 p.m. The Spider Monkeys and Post 23 played their semifinal contest on Tuesday, Aug. 5 at 6 p.m. at Schultz Creek Field.
“We’re just focused on the next win,” Ferguson said. “That’s all that matters to us. We’re just trying to win.”
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