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By JUSTIN LAMB
MURFREESBORO – When Austin Bolding tore his labrum for the second time in two years in the District 4-4A Tournament, he feared his season was over.
Luckily for Hardin Valley, Bolding is back and his RBI-single in the sixth inning sparked a five-run rally to lead the Hawks to a 7-2 win over Centennial in a Class 4A State Tournament elimination game Wednesday afternoon.
“I just tried to stay ready,” Bolding said. “I’ve just been trusting God’s plan to be ready when my name is called.”
With the win, Hardin Valley (32-6) advances to face Collierville (41-9) at 2 p.m. Thursday at Oakland High School. The Hawks will have to defeat the Dragons twice to reach the state championship game for the first time since 2015.
“We’re not ready to go home,” Bolding said. “We are ready to come out and hit them hard.”
Hardin Valley, which stayed alive with an 8-3 win over Walker Valley earlier Wednesday, lost to Collierville 2-0 in Tuesday’s opening game.
“When our backs are against the wall is when we play our best,” said Hardin Valley coach Tyler Roach. “We’ve been in elimination games all postseason long. I’ve been super proud of our boys.”
Against the Cougars (25-14), the Hawks squandered a couple of scoring opportunities in the first two innings before falling behind 1-0 in the third inning. Max Weyenberg took advantage of Jason Bennett being caught in a rundown between first and second to score from third base.
However, the lead was short-lived as Bolding ripped a game-tying single to centerfield to score Henry Ferguson, who had reached on a one-out infield single.
The game remained tied at 1-1 until the sixth inning when Ferguson led off the inning with a triple to right field before Bolding drove him home with a double to left field. Bolding later scored on Jason Jones’ sacrifice bunt.
Carson Hoffmeister, who had a game-high three hits, then broke the game open with a two-run single before eventually scoring on William Webb’s RBI-single.
The five-run lead was more than enough for Adam Baker, who picked up the win while allowing two runs on three hits with three strikeouts in five innings.
“Adam has kind of struggled his last couple of starts, but this looked like the Adam that has been dominant all year,” Roach said. “He stepped up when we needed him.”
Baker did get into some trouble loading the bases with no outs in the sixth inning, but Micah Hoffmeister ended any hopes for a Centennial comeback by bookending a strikeout and double play around Jack Scearce’s RBI single.
“We never pressed,” Roach said. “We just kept taking it at-bat by at-bat and then finally we were able to break it open.”
The Hawks tacked on an insurance run in the seventh inning on a Jones RBI single.
Caleb Jinks finished out the game for Hardin Valley with a scoreless seventh inning.
Braden Serbin took the loss for Centennial allowing six runs, two earned, on nine hits with four strikeouts and a walk in 5 2/3 innings.
The Cougars found themselves in the elimination after being no-hit in a 2-0 loss to Collierville earlier on Wednesday.