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Livengood has had his buddy’s back since they were little kids and Tuesday afternoon was no different as the right-hander preserved the Panthers 4-2 road victory, striking out three of the four batters he faced.
“ It’s great,” said Vaughn of Livengood. “That’s how it has been since we were eight. We love it. My off-speed was working really good today. I was throwing the fastball for strikes and getting ahead early.”
Conference road wins are always tough, especially versus a team like the Green Dragons, who are sure to make some noise before the season is over. But the Vaughn-Livengood tandem proved too tough to tame on a blustery, chilly evening.
West Davidson’s ace lefty Jordan Hudson held his own against the Ledford lineup, wiggling out of a few jams and keeping his team within striking distance. It wasn’t until the sixth inning that the Panthers (9-1, 3-0) finally broke through with a clutch hit in a 1-1 affair.
“He gave us fits last year,” Adams said of Hudson. “He’s throwing really well this year so we kind of figured we’d see him today. I felt we had a good game plan. We hit some balls hard and I thought they made some nice plays defensively. I couldn’t fault our effort.
“That was our plan coming in was to split [Vaughn and Livengood] time. Ricky was throwing so well we decided to let him keep going. We have some games coming up and we’re going to need some arms.”
Luke Ledwell started the frame off getting hit by a pitch and moved to second on a sacrifice. Vaughn followed with a deep fly ball to right that moved Ledwell to third, but Hudson intentionally walked Livengood to face the left-handed hitting Patrick Koontz. Koontz, hitless in two previous plate appearances, got what he was looking for and launched a towering fly ball to center-field that nearly left the park. Ledwell and pinch-runner Jacob Scott scored easily on the double, putting the Panthers up 3-1.
“I got up there looking for nothing but curveball,” said Koontz. “I haven’t seen a fastball all game. I see curveball, why not? Just adjust and hit the ball. The wind caught it, but it was a good hit. I’ll take it. It feels great. We’re 3-0 now, it’s awesome.”
West Davidson got one of the runs back in the bottom half of the sixth as Vaughn started tiring. With a run already in and a runner on third base with two outs, Adams brought in Livengood to face Brandon Smith, who proceeded to bounce out to second, ending the inning. Livengood struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh after Ledford got its run back on a balk call with Scott standing on third.
“We know we have one of the best pitching staffs in the conference,” Koontz said. “It’s a great feeling knowing we have those two on the team.”
Ledford hosts CCC foe Salisbury on Friday and will have to finish its suspended game at Central Davidson on Monday.
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 233, or at eliotduke@hotmail.com.