Doby hurled a three-hitter as coach BillKesler’s top-seeded Cavaliers downed No. 2 Ledford 6-0 in the CCC Tournament finals at Holt-Moffitt Field.

North, 18-5 overall, went 12-0 while winning the conference title during the regular season. The Cavs are 14-0 against CCC opponents, outscoring league rivals an amazing 129-6.

Doby, a sophomore, made sure the CCC opposition’s total for the season stayed at six runs with a solid performance. It was his third shutout of the season, upping his record to 5-1.

“This is my first seven-inning shutout (Two went only five innings). ... It’s not the best I’ve pitched control-wise,” said the tall hurler, who walked three and struck out six. “I definitely had them hitting is straight to the players — a lot of infield outs and pop-ups.”

Doby got 10 outs on infield grounders, including a great double play from third baseman Tad Ogg to second baseman Eric Mowery to catcher Brad Canipe in the second inning. There was one infield fly and one fly ball caught in the outfield. One of the three hits he allowed was an infield single.

“My curveball wasn’t working too well early in the game.I couldn’t get it in the strike zone.It came along in the end. My fastball was working pretty much the whole game — just finding the plate. I struggled a little in the early inning, but then I came back out strong,” said the pitcher.

“It feels good,” he said of finishing off North’s perfect CCC season. “I think this gives us a lot of momentum going into the state playoffs.”

The Cavaliers will host the No. 2 seed from the Western Highlands Conference in the first round of the state 2A playoffs on Tuesday.

Kesler was glad his team had an outstanding game, even though North had already clinched the league’s No. 1 seed for the playoffs.

“I think it would have been a big letdown to come over here and not play well,” he said.

As for Doby’s performance, the coach said, “He’s a pitcher. The great thing is, we’ve got two more years of him. For a sophomore, he’s really throwing the ball well. He keeps it down so good. He doesn’t hardly ever get up above the belt with anything you can hit. He was struggling with the curve for about the first three innings, then he started getting it some across the plate. I thought he pitched a whole lot better the second half of the game than he did the first half.”

Doby pitched no-hit ball over the final 3 2/3 innings, allowing one baserunner on a walk and another on an infield throwing error.

Kesler had praise for his veteran catcher, Brad Canipe, who threw out two runners trying to steal second.

“Canipe was great behind the plate. All through the year our pitchers can throw a curveball in the dirt and we don’t have to worry about going back and picking it up. He did a great job of blocking and calling pitches. He’s been really outstanding the whole year.”

The Cavaliers had 14 hits, matching their season high, with Ogg going 3-for-3 and Canipe, Eric Mowery, Aaron Rimer and Cass Jarrett each going 2-for-3.

“I thought we hit the ball well. Once we got four or five runs, we were in good shape. I still had Phillip Goodman and Nathan Woodburn left to pitch if we needed them,” said Kesler.

Mowery singled in one of North’s three runs in the third inning and tripled in another in the fifth. He had the Cavaliers’ only extra-base hit.