Can McCracken County end 1st Region title drought
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BY MIKE FIELDS (June 17, 2016)
McCracken County will continue its quest to end a 56-year title drought for the 1st Region when the Rawlings/KHSAA State Baseball Tournament resumes tonight with the final four at Whitaker Bank Ballpark.
The semifinal matchups have McCracken County (37-5) taking on St. Xavier (27-12) at 6 p.m., followed by Bullitt East (28-10) playing Campbell County (28-10).
The last 1st Region team to win a state baseball title was Paducah Tilghman in 1960. Since then region has had four state runners-up: Lone Oak in 1963, Paducah Tilghman in 1970 and 1974, and Murray in 1979.
St. X, the 7th Region champ, won its sixth state title just two years ago. The Tigers also won it all in 1942, 1945, 1949, 1951 and 1981.
Bullitt East, out of the 6th Region, is looking for its first state championship. Pleasure Ridge Park is the only 6th Region team to win a state title since the 16-region format was adopted in 1976). PRP won it all in 1994, 1995, 1996, 2008 and 2013.
Campbell County, the 10th Region representative, hasn’t won a title either. Harrison County is the only 10th Region team to win a state championship, and has done it four times — 1993, 1997, 1998 and 2010.
The state finals are set for Saturday at 7 p.m.
PrintABOUT MIKE FIELDS
After working as a sports writer for 41 years, I needed a break from the daily demands and deadlines of the newspaper business. So last June I retired from the Lexington Herald-Leader after covering approximately 4,000 high school sports events in my career. Now, eight months later, I’m rested and ready for a part-time return to the game. To reintroduce myself: I was born in Pikeville, grew up in Bardstown, graduated from the University of Kentucky, worked at newspapers in Eustis, Fla., Lake City, Fla., Henderson, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before coming to Lexington in 1980. Email me at mfields@khsaa.org
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