PORTSMOUTH – Good pitching stops good hitting.

Wednesday, July 18, 2001

PORTSMOUTH – Good pitching stops good hitting. Evidently, the only pitchers who can stop the Ironton Senior League batters are the Ironton pitchers.

Behind the three-hit pitching of Matt White, Ironton routed Lucasville Valley for the second straight game Monday 11-3 and won the District 11 championship.

White went the distance as he struck out nine, walked just one and hit a batter.

"We hit the ball well again, but the thing that’s impressed me the most has been our pitching," Ironton manager Bart Burcham said. "Matt White threw a great game. He was throwing hard and he had great control."

White and Tyler Whaley stroked home runs to key a 14-hit attack. Whaley was 3-for-4 with a double and three-run homer while Derek Moore was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles.

After a scoreless first inning, Moore singled and came around to score on a ground out. A couple of walks two throwing errors allowed two more runs to score.

White lined a solo home run in the third and Whaley doubled home two runs in the fifth and it was 6-0.

Ironton pushed across five runs in the fifth to lead 11-0.

Greg Linn singled, Jameson McKnight singled off the centerfield fence, and Jeff Parnell had an RBI single.

Kevin Williams walked, White hit a sacrifice fly, and Whaley clubbed his three-run blast.

Ironton plays its first state tournament game at 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 25, at Branch Rickey Field in Portsmouth.

Ironton 031 025 0 – 11 14 2

Lucasville 000 003 0 – 3 3 4

White and Derek Moore. Hill, Horton (6) and Horton, Hill. W-White (9-K, 1-W, 1-HBP). L-Hill. 2B-Ironton: Derek Moore 2, Tyler Whaley. HR-Ironton: Tyler Whaley, Matt White. SF-Ironton: Matt White. Hitting-Ironton: Derek Moore 3-4, Whaley 3-4, Matt White 1-4, Greg Linn 1-1, Josh Sands 1-4, Jeff Parnell 1-2, Jameson McKnight 1-3, Kevin Williams 2-4, Nick Collins 1-3.