Prior to their meeting on Monday, the last time Parkers Chapel and Junction City met was on May 4, 2019.
The setting was a familiar one.
The Trojans and Dragons were meeting with the 2A South regional crown hanging in the balance.
The Dragons won that meeting 9-3 as part of their run to the state championship.
Last year’s game and any potential postseason games where the schools could’ve met were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, but as restrictions eased, Parkers Chapel coach Mark Looney and Junction City coach Joe Paul Hammett worked together for a special home-and-home series to help honor their seniors who played pivotal roles in leading their schools to state championships, but saw their final season come to an abrupt end.
But after 23 months without having played one another, the Trojans and Dragons got back to work in staging one of Union County’s best rivalries.
Trace Shoup, a sophomore when the schools last met in the regional final, made the return a memorable one by firing a no-hitter and striking out 14 in an 8-0 win.
“He had a tremendous day, and he did what a senior is supposed to do with his experience and ability,” Looney said.
Shoup, who has signed with LSU-Eunice, helped himself with a two-run single in the sixth that helped break the game open.
“It’s been going solid,” Shoup said. “I’m just looking to make contact, see the ball, hit it in the middle of the barrel and see where it goes.”
Two years ago, the Trojans and Dragons met in both the district and regional tournaments, and there could me more meetings this year depending on how the remainder of the 8-2A schedule plays out.
For the Trojans, who took a five-game winning streak into Tuesday’s conference clash at Spring Hill, things seem to be falling into place for what could be a long postseason run.
“We’ve been playing pretty good the last few weeks,” Looney said.
“We’re starting to get settled in on a starting lineup depending on who is pitching. We’re still a little spotty hitting-wise, whether it’s hitting into bad luck or the other team is just making plays when we put it in play.”
Although the Dragons have a wealth of new faces this year, senior Gabe Richard has emerged as the ace of the pitching staff, and Junction City is still in the hunt for the conference title with Thursday’s showdown against Woodlawn going a long way towards determining the league champion and seeding for the district tournament.
Against the Trojans on Monday, poor defense came back to haunt the Dragons, as two errors in the first inning helped the Trojans score four runs without the aid of a hit.
“We work on it every day. It’s just one of those things,” Hammett said. “It’s sort of like we have bits and pieces. We do a pretty good job one inning, and then the next inning, we don’t make a routine play, and it sort of steamrolls.
“We’re still trying to play the whole game without letting a bad inning happen, and today we had two of them. That’s baseball.
“Besides the first inning, defensively and pitching, we’ll take that every day, but we’ve got to hit better.”
As the calendar gets closer toward the end of April, teams across the state are getting prepared for the postseason.
If Monday is any indication, the Trojans are eager to get started.
“I’m ready,” Shoup said. “I think our team is ready too.”