West Lauderdale's Austin Davidson forces out Greene County's Brantley Smith as he makes the throw to first to complete the double play Thursday night.

When Kameron Partridge hit it up the middle, past a diving Greene County player, it could only be described as the sweetest feeling.

With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Partridge began the at-bat by showing bunt, a play designed to distract the Greene County pitcher while teammate Braden Luke stole second. Following the successful steal, Partridge was tasked with breaking a 2-2 tie and giving West Lauderdale a Game 1 win in the third round of the MHSAA Class 4A postseason.

Partridge then hit a ground ball toward second, and despite his best effort, the Wildcat infielder couldn’t keep the ball from going into center field. Luke turned on the jets and flew home with more than enough speed to beat the throw from the outfield. West Lauderdale won 3-2, giving the Knights a 1-0 advantage in the series.

“It was good to get Braden in scoring position,” Partridge said. “I was looking for a good pitch to hit, and he happened to throw one right down the middle, and I was able to put a good swing on it. Off the bat, I thought it was through, and then I saw him dive, and I was like, ‘Oh, goodness,’ but then I saw it go through.”

West Lauderdale took a 1-1 tie into the bottom of the fifth inning when Luke hit a sacrifice fly to score Austin Davidson and put the Knights up 2-1. Greene County tied it in the top of the seventh off a solo home run and sent the game into extra innings. 

After Partridge pitched a scoreless top of the eighth in relief of starter Ben Ethridge, Luke was able to work a one-out walk in the bottom of the frame. In the next at-bat, the Greene County catcher was tossed after arguing a check swing by Davidson, and the West Lauderdale coaches decided to test the arm of the Wildcats’ backup catcher. Greene County also brought in a new pitcher, and everyone felt the time was right to swipe second.

“When they made the pitching change, (head) coach (Jason) Smith said they would give me the signal if he wanted me to go,” Luke recalled. “I saw it, and we capitalized. When they got their catcher tossed, having a young player back there helps us, and I knew if we got to second we would be in business.”

When Luke did take off, though, the play at second was close — close enough to cause one of the Wildcat coaches to argue the call that Luke was safe. 

“I thought there for a second it was going to be bang-bang at second,” Luke said. “Thank goodness he missed the tag, but I got there and knew I could tell with Kam that something big was coming up, and I had to make sure I got enough to where I could score on anything.”

Said Partridge, “That was huge, to get a man into scoring position right there in the bottom of the eighth, and I knew I just had to do whatever I could to help my team win.”

And once he saw Luke slide safely into home plate on his walkoff single, Partridge said he was grateful to reward Knight fans with a victory.

“It’s sweet,” Partridge said. “It was a great atmosphere all night, and it’s huge for us. It gives us a lot of momentum going into (Friday), so hopefully we can get another win.”

Greene County scored on an error in the top of the first inning that also saw Wildcats head coach Nick Chatham tossed for arguing a call. West Lauderdale got the run back in the bottom of the first when Ethridge hit a sacrifice fly to score Davidson.

Davidson, Partridge, Mason Willis, Ethridge and Brandon Andreacchio had one hit apiece for the Knights, and Andreacchio’s hit was a double. Ethridge pitched seven innings for the Knights, giving up two runs, one earned, on five hits and one walk while striking out 11. Partridge surrendered one hit and struck out two in his one inning of work.

“We knew they were going to be a scrappy team,” Smith said. “They have some momentum going for them, and they threw a really good pitcher tonight (lefty Drake Henderson), so we’re just glad to get a win. I’m really proud of the boys.”

West Lauderdale will play at Greene County at 7 p.m. Friday for Game 2 of the best-of-three series. Game 3, if necessary, will be at 7 p.m. Saturday at West Lauderdale.