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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HARPERSVILLE – The Coosa Valley Rebels started their journey to the AISA Class A baseball championship with a bang as they swept the Crenshaw Christian Cougars in the first round.

Coosa Valley defeated Crenshaw Christian 11-0 in five innings in game one before a 12-7 game two victory on Tuesday, April 15 at Coosa Valley Academy.

After a scoreless first inning in game one, the Rebels started a two-out rally in the bottom of the second and got on the board when Jake McArthur stole home.

Two singles later, Landon Payton took a grounder to left for another single, this time making the lead 2-0. Sam Setzer doubled up the lead to 4-0 on the next pitch with a two-run double ahead of the end of the inning.

With one on and two out in the bottom of the third, McArthur sparked another spurt of offense with an RBI single for the 5-0 lead. A single and an error then loaded up the bases for Setzer, who scored ahead of a Jay Chapman sacrifice fly which made it 7-0.

Andrew Weaver plated another run with an RBI single to follow up on a stolen base from Setzer, and after he reached third himself, he came home off a Brett Hackett sacrifice fly.

Two batters later, McArthur secured his RBI single of the inning to make it a 10-0 lead. He then scored off an error to finish off the 11-0 victory.

McArthur finished game one 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI, Setzer was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run, Mullins went 2-for-3 with two runs and Willis had a 2-for-3 game with a run.

McArthur took the win on the mound with 10 strikeouts in five shutout innings, allowing just three hits and one walk.

In game two of the series, the Rebels loaded up the bases in the top of the first off three singles in the first four at-bat. All three runners came home off a two-out error to open up a 3-0 lead.

Crenshaw Christian got a one-out single in the top of the second, and a wild pitch and a passed ball set him up to steal home and cut the gap to 3-1.

A Mullins walk and Payton single in the top of the second set up Setzer to restore the three-run lead with an RBI double. Two batters later, Weaver cleared the bases with a two-run double for the 6-1 lead.

In the next inning, Coosa Valley loaded up the bases with a single and two errors, setting up a big two-out spot. Chapman then sent all the runners home with an RBI double that made it a 9-1 game.

That lead would grow to 10-1 in the top of the fourth with a McArthur single and 11-1 in the top of the fifth thanks to a sacrifice fly from Setzer.

The Cougars went to the bottom of the fifth needing one run to extend their season, and they got not just one, but six of them.

A single and an error forced Coosa Valley to regroup, but another error let Crenshaw Christian cut it to 11-2.

From there, the Cougars stole home, earned an RBI single and got a run off a third error in the inning, the latter of which made it an 11-5 game. The Rebels then got the first out of the inning but gave up two RBI singles on the next three at-bats, which slashed the deficit to 11-7.

However, Chapman struck out two batters on either side of the final RBI single to get out of the inning.

Coosa Valley benefitted from two walks in the top of the sixth to set up a two-out RBI single from Mullins to increase the lead to 12-7, and the Rebels didn’t allow any other runs from there en route to the sweep.

Setzer was 2-for-4 with three runs and two RBI, Weaver went 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run, McArthur finished 2-for-5 with an RBI while Payton earned three RBI in a 2-for-4 game. In addition, Chapman got three RBI in his 1-for-5 performance at the plate while taking the win with nine strikeouts in six innings against six unearned runs, five hits and two walks. He did finish the game without allowing an earned run.