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The Christian Academy Louisville baseball team won both of their games to win the 28^th District Championship last week!  The tournament was hosted by Kentucky Country Day.  It was the first time in CAL history that the Centurion baseball team won both the 28^th District regular season and tournament championships.  CAL will next host 3^rd ranked St. Xavier in the quarter finals of the 7^th Region tournament Wednesday at 6 p.m.

CAL defeated Ballard, 2-1, in the championship game behind the complete game pitching of Jack Perdue who allowed only five hits, one walk, and one unearned run while striking out 11.  Ballard scored their only run on an error on a bunt play in the third inning before Perdue retired 13 of the next 14 Ballard batters to end the game.

CAL drew first blood with a run in the bottom of the second inning.  Nick Britton drew a walk to open the frame and advanced to second base on a wild pitch before scoring on Avery Hare’s double to right field.

After Ballard tied it in the third, CAL plated what proved to be the winning run in the fifth inning.  Avery Hare reached first base on a fielder’s choice and then stole second base.  Jacob Price walked  with Jackson Watkins entering the game to pinch run.  Ryan Lynch then walked to load the bases.  Hare then scored when on a Michael Lynch ground out, giving CAL the 2-1 lead.

CAL had only three hits in the game, a double by Avery Hare and singles by Noah McCarty and Jack Perdue.

In the district semifinals on Monday, CAL spotted Kentucky Country Day two runs in the top of the first inning before scoring six runs in the bottom of the first en route to an 11-2 victory.

Trailing 2-0, Michael Lynch and Casey Sallade both walked to open the inning.  Courtesy runners Logan McNair and Andrew Gilliam entered the game to run for the pitcher Lynch and catcher Sallade.  Jack Perdue bunted for a single with McNair scoring when the pitcher’s throw went down the leftfield line with Gilliam advancing to third and Perdue to second base.  Nick Britton then grounded an infield single to deep shortstop, scoring Gilliam, and Perdue scoring when the shortstop’s throw sailed into the CAL dugout, giving CAL a 3-2 lead and with Britton advancing to second base on the play.  Later that inning with one out, Avery Hare hit into a fielder’s choice but then stole second base.  Noah McCarty singled to center to score Hare before Jacob Price was hit by a pitch and Ryan Lynch walked to load the bases.  McCarty and Price then both scored when Michael Lynch grounded a single into right field, giving CAL a 6-2 lead.

CAL scored twice in the second to extend their lead to 8-2.  Nick Britton walked to lead off the second and advanced to second base when Jett Peterson bunted and reach base on an error.  Avery Hare sacrifice bunted to advance both runners who then scored on Noah McCarty’s single to right field.

The lead became 9-2 in the third inning. Michael Lynch doubled to right to lead off the inning.  Logan McNair courtesy ran for pitcher Lynch and advanced to third base on Casey Sallade’s sacrifice bunt.  McNair scored on Jack Perdue’s infield out.

CAL’s final two runs score in the fourth.  Jett Peterson walked before Avery Hare and Noah McCarty both singled to load the bases.  Peterson scored on a wild pitch and Avery Hare scored when McKade Battcher grounded out to first base giving CAL their final 11-2 margin.

After giving up two first inning runs to the first two KCD batters of the game, pitcher Michael Lynch found his groove and then retired 12 of the next 13 KCD batters before giving way to Bradey Moad who pitched final three innings of the game.

Noah McCarty led CAL with three singles and three RBI.  Michael Lynch had a double and a single.  Casey Sallade, Jack Perdue, Nick Britton, and Avery Hare all singled once.

The Centurions played five games against their district opponents this year, winning them all, and outscoring their opponents, 36-3, in those five games.  The CAL pitchers and defense have not allowed more than three runs in a game since April 30.  Jack Perdue, Michael Lynch, and Noah McCarty were all named to the 28^th District All-Tournament Team.  CAL’s record for the season is now 17-15.

The 7^th Region tournament begins Wednesday night with CAL hosting 3^rd ranked St. Xavier in a quarter final round game at 6 p.m.  The semifinals are set to be played Saturday evening (could be either 5:30 or 8 p.m.) with the regional finals scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m.  The semi-finals and finals are all played at the University of Louisville’s Jim Patterson Stadium.  CAL won the regional tournament once before in 2008.  The Centurions’ last victory in a regional game was in 2015.  The Kentucky State tournament will be played June 2-11 at the University of Kentucky’s Kentucky Proud Park.

The Centurion Armory will have it’s END OF SCHOOL YEAR SALE MAY 3rd-26th

It’s time to make room for new apparel for next school year! Stop in the Centurion Armory and take advantage of the special deals!  The SALE rack keeps growing plus 10 % OFF all apparel and accessories not already marked down.

The Armory is open Tuesday-Friday 2:30-4pm. For questions please email Trisha Pullen at tpullen@caschools.us

From busted tires to bonding on the lake, CAL’s new bass fishing team has already treaded through the ups and downs of an entire year.

“For a lot of them, they didn’t realize how technical bass fishing can be,” CAL coach and team founder Thomas Peck said. “There are things like learning how to read electronics on your boat and using sonar that make it more in-depth… but they’ve learned a lot.”

Peck first got the idea to start a bass fishing team at CAL two years ago while attending his son Hayden’s open house. Despite loving the school, it bugged both Peck and Hayden that CAL didn’t offer bass fishing but St. Xavier, Trinity and DeSales did.

Peck grew up learning how to fish from his father and passed it down to his own sons. He fell in love with competing in bass fishing tournaments and running a series for the Fishers of Men National Tournament Trail — a ministry who aims “to introduce Jesus to fishermen and their families and to invite them into a relationship with Him, through bass fishing tournaments,” per the organizations mission statement.

Peck was determined to bring the same message to CAL so he insisted on creating a squad. But was CAL interested?

Despite it being their first season, the Centurions wanted a team for years. The KHSAA only sanctioned bass fishing in 2012, but 10 years later, the sport has expanded to 126 schools statewide.

Jefferson County is slow to adapting bass fishing, however. The only schools in the county that participated were Trinity, St. Xavier, DeSales and Fairdale. CAL felt left out, especially since there were students who had real potential for the sport.

Senior Landon Donahue started fishing with his grandpa when he was young. Donahue’s grandfather was a semi-pro bass fisherman who taught him the importance of preparation, patience and how to pick a fish out the water. For years he wanted to utilize those skills.

Heading into his senior year his wish was granted.

“I’ve always enjoyed the sport so when I heard CAL was getting a team I really wanted to join,” Donahue said. “I loved going out fishing with my dad or watching him and my grandpa come home with a big bass. I thought it was so cool.”

Not all of CAL’s anglers are as experienced as Donahue, but that hasn’t stopped the team from improving throughout its first month.

Freshman Ethan Zunbrunnen said that he loved to fish but never did it for competitively. He enjoys it to relax, so performing under pressure is a new experience for him.

“There’s a lot of good things about doing this as a team,” Zunbrunnen said. “There’s other people to help you. I had to adapt to waking up at the same time and going to the same place but other than that there’s been things that are the same.”

Bass fishing requires anglers to go out on a boat for eight hours and bring back their five heaviest fish. The most weight wins. Last Saturday, the Centurions competed in their first bass fishing tournament and faced adversity out of the gate.

“One of our guys was putting his boat in the water and his tire popped,” CAL angler Lucas Bischoff said. “So he was pretty late because he had to go get a new tire to pull it back out.”

Things got worse for the team. Since the waters were cold and muddy, nobody on the team caught more than two fish. It wasn’t the start the team was looking for, but that didn’t take a way from the thrill of the afternoon.

It’s still early for the team and Peck expects there to be ups and downs throughout the year, but he sees an excitement in the team and a willingness to improve. He knows CAL can build something special but it’ll just take patience.

“We not only want them to grow in wisdom, stature and favor as men of God, but we also want them to win some fishing tournaments,” Peck said. “And they were upset. They want to win.”

Article posted 4/4/22 https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/high-school/2022/04/04/cals-new-bass-fishing-team-treads-deep-waters-its-first-season/7166427001/