MONTEREY — Not only are Grace Christian School and Monterey High School the top two teams in LHSAA District 6-B, but they are currently the top two teams in the Class B power rankings.

So a lot was on the line in the first of two meetings this week between the two teams. Surprisingly, Tuesday afternoon’s game turned out be a high-scoring one with the Wolves taking an 8-5 win over the Warriors.

Winning pitcher Cade Passman went the distance and allowed three earned runs on 10 hits to go with six strikeouts and four walks. Head coach Eric Richard said that Passman pitched well against a good-hitting Grace Christian team and that the defense behind him was solid.

“Cade made some big pitches when we needed it. For the most part, we made some defensive plays when we needed it. It wasn’t our cleanest game,” Richard said.

Monterey scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning before Grace Christian responded with a four-run rally in the top of the second. The Wolves took the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, which was followed by two more runs in the bottom of the fifth.

“We got some timely hits when we needed them,” Richard said. “It was a team effort. It was just a good ball game.”

After the second inning, the Warriors were kept off the scoreboard by Passman until they plated their final run of the game in the top of the sixth inning.

The Wolves had four multiple hitters in the game. Hayden Cassels went 3-for-4 with two runs batted in. Jake Cooper went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. Dillon Smith was 2-for-3. Jake Barlow was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

The victory by Monterey put the Wolves in first place in District 6-B with a 3-0 mark while Grace Christian fell to 2-1 in the district standings. It was also the Warriors’ second loss of the season.

Monterey (16-3) plays at Grace Christian (22-2) at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Franklin County 11, Crystal Springs 0

BUDE — Derick Brumfield pitched a complete-game shutout with four strikeouts and held Crystal Springs to just five hits as the Franklin County Bulldogs defeated the Tigers 11-0 in five innings Tuesday night in an MHSAA Region 7-3A game.

Franklin County did not waste any time putting this game away as the Bulldogs scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning. That included an RBI double by Brumfield and two-run doubles by Graham Cowart, Will Moffet and DeMantre Collins.

The Bulldogs added one run in the bottom of the second inning to go ahead 9-0 and completed the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Conner Quin had a triple and Bryce White went 2-for-2.

Franklin County (13-6, 4-2) plays at Crystal Springs at 4 p.m. today.