SHENANDOAH JUNCTION — After jumping over the many puddles caused by the rains of last week, Jefferson High School baseball team managed to play nine games, since its recent return from a week-long tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

In preparing for the Class AAA Sectional tournament that called for it to play its first tournament game this past Wednesday, the Cougars won five times in games staged May 2-5.

An all-important 14-1 win was posted over Washington in a May 2 game played at Washington.

An eight-run fourth inning sealed the win and enabled the Cougars to be given the No. 1 seed over the reeling Patriots in the Sectional tournament. Washington saw a losing streak reach seven games before it was able to finish the regular season with three straight wins.

In the crucial fourth inning rally, Connor Bailey had two doubles to drive in two runs and Noah Carter get two RBIs with his double. Sam Wabnitz, Kellen Kinsler and Josh Cienfuegos all had hits in the uprising.

Griffin Horowicz pitched the first five innings and allowed only three hits.

The Patriots squandered scoring chances when they left the bases loaded in three innings.

Bailey finished the profitable afternoon going 3-for-3, while Wabnitz, Roberts, Carter and Kinsler all contributed two hits to Jefferson’s 15-hit offense.

The next night in Shenandoah Junction it was pitcher Daquon Ship in the spotlight as his much-needed no-hitter stymied Spring Mills in a quickly played 1-0 win by the Cougars. Shipe fanned five and walked only two as his mastery of the Cardinals was needed because it wasn’t until the bottom of the seventh inning that Jefferson could score. Shipe’s sacrifice fly scored Wabnitz, who had singled, was sacrificed to second, advanced to third on a groundout and then scored on Shipe’s clutch sacrifice fly.

Jefferson managed only three hits off Spring Mills’ pitching.

Roberts mastered Hedgesville with his low-hit, low-run pitching in a 10-2 win over the Eagles.

In his six innings of quality pitching, Roberts struck out eight.

The Cougars made their job easier when they quickly took a 5-0 lead after only two offensive turns. Wabnitz went 3-for-3 with four RBIs and a double. Kinsler also was 3-for-3 and had a double. Roberts and Horowicz collected two hits each and both had doubles as the Cougars defeated the Eagles for the second time in the 2022 season.

Pitcher Jarrett Day was the benefactor in Jefferson’s three-run third inning that was crucial in a 5-0 whitewashing of Mercersburg Academy (Pa.). Day’s complete game stats showed him striking out three and permitting only two walks.

Wabnitz contributed another multi-hit game when he had two singles. Horowicz chipped in with a double.

On that same day, Jefferson eased past Smithsburg (Md.), 4-3, when Kinsler’s RBI double with two outs in the bottom of the seventh quickly sent the Leopards home with a loss.

Carter drew a walk and pinch runner J.J. Polvinale stole second base. Kinsler delivered the game winner.

Riley Morgan pitched the last 2.2 strike out-filled innings in getting the win. Morgan struck out seven in the eight outs he achieved.

Smithsburg managed an unearned run off Morgan in the sixth.

There were only a total of seven hits in the game with Jefferson getting four of those hits.

Getting those nine straight wins to complete its regular season schedule left Jefferson with a 28-3 record to take into the postseason tournaments.

In the Sectional tournament, Jefferson was to play the winner of the Washington vs. Hampshire on May 12. A win in that game would propel the Cougars into a game today. A loss in Wednesday’s game would force the Cougars to come right back and play again on Thursday against the loser of Wednesday’s second Sectional game.

The Sectional could go on until Saturday, when two teams with one loss each would play each other for the tournament title and a place in the two-team Regional.

Shipe’s no-hitter and quality, low-run pitching had been the highlights of the final week in Jefferson’s 28-win regular season.