How smooth was Pikeville pitcher Chase Huffman against Cumberland Tuesday night? His own coach was surprised to find out how many strikeouts the junior had.

"I said he didn't strike many out but I guess I was wrong about that," Chris Lawson said after learning of Huffman's 10 strikeouts.

"Anytime a pitcher strikes out nine, 10 (or) 11 batters a game, you don't have to make a whole lot of defensive plays. If you just make the ones in the right spots, you've got a chance to win."

Cumberland (11-11) handed the game to the Panthers, with all three Pikeville runs coming off the Redskins' four errors in the meeting between the All "A" Classic's 13th and 15th region champions.

"We booted the ball around. Both teams did," Cumberland Coach Roger Morris said. "Like I told them, you've got to stay focused. When games are close like this, these errors will kill you."

The Cumberland errors wasted a fine performance by Redskin senior pitcher Stephen Creech, who held the Panthers to just two hits and struck out five with four walks.

"Stephen pitched his heart out," Morris said. "I think that's three times this year he's done this and got beat 1-0, 2-0. We're not scoring any runs for him (and) we're not hitting, especially with men on base."

Cumberland left six men on base; the Panthers stranded five.

The Redskins got their only run in the first inning; Drew Allison led off the game with a double and scored on a fielder's choice that took down Kevin Cope at second base.

After that, Huffman provided all sorts of trouble for Cumberland. In addition to the 10 strikeouts, Huffman only walked four with four hits. Cumberland twice got runners to third base, only to see them stranded there thanks to either a ground ball or a Huffman strikeout.

Allison and Cope both batted 2-for-3, Allison with a double and a single and Cope with two singles. Chris Vicini got the only RBI by either team on the first-inning fielder's choice.

For Pikeville, Justin Anderson and Jesse Parrish had the only hits of the game.

Huffman got his first decision in a couple of weeks after taking no-decisions in the Panthers' three appearances in the All "A" Classic state tournament.

"His last three outings have been in the sectional championship at Fairview, then the state tournament against Beechwood and the state tournament against Lexington Christian," Lawson said.

"Those are three real good teams. But I was glad to see him get the win here it will boost his confidence a little bit."

Pikeville took the lead quickly once it got to bat in the bottom of the first inning. Matt Sexton walked with one out and Justin Anderson singled, then both scored on an error by Cumberland shortstop Chris Vicini. The Panthers (20-6) added one more unearned run in the sixth inning when two throwing errors let Chad Walls reach base and eventually score.

The Redskins will travel to Hazard on Thursday, while Pikeville will play host to Belfry.

Cumberland 100 000 0 1 4 4

Pikeville 200 001 0 3 2 1

Creech and Allison; Huffman and Adams. WHuffman. LCreech (1-5).

Barbourville 7

Evarts 5

Barbourville scored six runs in the first inning and held on to defeat visiting Evarts at Union College on Tuesday.

An error helped the Tigers score five unearned runs in the first against Evarts senior right-hander Brandon Shackleford (0-5).

Evarts battled back with five runs in the sixth before Travis Crawford, who pitched the first two innings, returned to close the door on the Cats' rally and earn the save.

Matt Marsee and Logan Napier each had two singles to lead Evarts. Frank Middleton added a triple. Jacob Monhollen and Shawn Hoskins each had doubles. Dustin Mefford contributed a single.

Evarts (1-11) returns to action Friday at Red Bird.

Evarts 000 005 0 5 8 3

Barbourville 610 000 x 7 5 3

Shackleford and Marsee; Crawford, Warren (3), Worthy (6), Crawford (6) and Hammons. WWarren. LShackleford (0-5). SvCrawford.

Softball

Harlan 11

Barbourville 1

The Harlan Lady Dragons rolled to five-inning victory over host Barbourville on Monday.

Chelsey Hensley improved to 9-1 on the season as she struck out five in the complete-game win. Samantha Grubb suffered the loss for Barbourville.

Harlan (15-5) returns to action Thursday at Cawood.

Harlan 103 07 11 8 0

Barbourville 000 10 1 2 3

Hensley and Jones; Sa. Grubb and Adkinson. WHensley (9-1). LSa. Grubb.