LIKE BUTTER

STUARTS DRAFT — One pitch, one swing was all the Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks needed to take a 2-0 lead in the Rockingham County Baseball League Championship series over the Clover Hill Bucks.

Jason Butterworth swung at the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the ninth, believing that it would be the best pitch he saw from Bucks pitcher James Lucas. His hunch was right and sent the fastball over the left-field fence giving the Diamondbacks a 2-1 win.

“The first pitch is usually the best pitch you are going to see,” Butterworth said. “I love swinging at the first pitch. I was looking for a first-pitch fastball and he got it up and in and I got a good swing on it. That’s a heck of a ballteam to come out with a 2-0 lead is huge, that’s huge.”

The game-winner was only Butterworth’s second home run in his RCBL career. He hit his first during the semifinal series against Elkton.

“He’s been hitting the ball with a lot of pop during batting practice and I’m like, ‘how’s that little man doing that,’ ” said Stuarts Draft manager Tinker Kiser. “I thought he got too much air on it but when it landed, that was the greatest feeling in the world.”

Before his last-inning triumph, Butterworth had been struggling at the plate, going 0-for-3.

“I will say that I let myself get down at the beginning of the game and I was telling myself in the field, ‘this is going to come down to a big at bat,’ ” he said.

Butterworth’s heroics complemented a strong outing by the Diamondbacks starter Ryan Cooper. Cooper went the distance and said he had more in his arm if needed. He struck out 11 batters while allowing five hits.

“That is the most daunting team you can pitch against and you have to be very, very, very careful,” Cooper said. “The last time I pitched them, I didn’t change speeds enough, so tonight my fastball wasn’t the same speed twice.”

Cooper had plenty of competition from Bucks starter James Lucas. Lucas also went the distance and allowed only four hits, including Butterworth’s walkoff. Lucas struck out eight batters while walking two.

“Two team that are so offensively minded, it’s kind of odd to have a pitcher’s duel two games in a row,” Cooper said. “When you are pitching against guys like [Justin] Wood and Lucas you can’t expect to hit too much.

The only run the Bucks managed to get across the plate was after Dustin Bowman hit a solo shot in the fifth. Bowman has scored the Bucks’ only two runs of the series, both off of solo home runs.

After Bowman’s homer, the Bucks held a 1-0 lead until the bottom of the seventh. Cooper reached first on an error and scored on a Wes Harlow slow roller in the infield.

Now with a 2-0 lead in the series, Kiser said he still isn’t relaxed about Draft’s chances and hopes the Bucks’ bats remain silent.

“I don’t feel comfortable at all,” he said. “They can run off four-in-a-row like nothing. You know they are going to wake up, you just hope it’s after the series.

On Saturday, the Bucks will have a shot to avoid falling behind by three games when Draft travels to Clover Hill. The series will return to Draft on Sunday. Drew Dobbins is slated to start on the mound for the Diamondbacks.