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The Shelby County Wildcats continued their hot start to the 2022 season with two wins at the historic Rickwood Field March 10-11. (Reporter photo/Keith McCoy)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – The Shelby County Wildcats have not only been one of the hottest teams in the state to start the 2022 baseball season, but now, they’ve picked up two more wins on one of the most historic fields in the sport.

Competing in the Rickwood Classic at historic Rickwood Field Thursday, March 10 and Friday, March 11, the Wildcats picked up two more dominant wins against Clay-Chalkville and Moody.

They downed the Cougars on Thursday by a score of 12-2 and the Blue Devils a day later by a score of 8-1.

With those two victories, they improved to 11-1 on the season and won their third in a row since dropping their only game to Elmore County.

Shelby County’s offense has been on fire so far, scoring eight or more runs in all but the lone loss so far this season.

That remained the case against both opponents at Rickwood, while the pitching was also on point.

Against Clay-Chalkville, the Wildcats fell behind 1-0 in the top of the first, but answered in a big way.

They quickly tied the game in the bottom half, then went on to score six in the second inning and here in the third for a 10-1 lead. That was followed by one more in both the fourth and fifth innings to take the 10-run win in five innings.

Carter Sheehan led Shelby County at the plate, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored, while Connor Aderholt went 2-for-3 as well with two RBIs and a run scored.

Matthew Pearson also had two RBIs behind one hit, while he had three runs. Micah Morris added two hits, while Logan Starnes and Jacob Fox each had one hit.

On the mound, Blake Jennings got the complete-game win, striking out three and allowing two runs on six hits.

A day later against Moody, it was a big fifth inning that made the difference for Shelby County.

A scoreless game to that point, Morris led off the inning with a walk before the first out was recorded. That was followed by another walk from Noah Reed to put two aboard.

From there, Sheehan and Pearson had back-to-back singles, driving home a combined three runs, while Aderholt doubled to left field to bring home a fourth run.

Up 4-0, the Wildcats gave up one in the bottom half, but that became Moody’s only answer.

Shelby County went on to score one more in the sixth and then three in the top of the seventh to put the game away.

Pearson finished 2-for-4 at the plate with two more RBIs and a run scored. Aderholt also had two hits and drove home one run, while Sheehan, Fox and Reed each added one hit and one RBI.

Austin Wilson added an RBI as well, while Starnes, Morris and Hall all had one hit apiece.

Fox put together a strong effort on the mound as well, striking out three and allowing one run on four hits and four walks in the complete-game win.

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