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May 24, 2010
The exciting district week of baseball comes to its end! A week filled with rain, some upsets, many #1-#2 battles, some great pitching and lucky #5's.....
Last week, we pointed out that we had a good feeling about Jackson's chances in class 4, District 1 tournament. The #4 seed knocked off #1 Festus 6-3 in semis then manufactured a single run to win the District championship 1-0 to edge the #7 seed, N.County. Yes...it was #4 vs #7 in the championship game...makes one wonder if the seeding meeting wasn't held a bit too early. Anyway, Jackson (17-7) has just two hits in the win. The Indians scratched out a run on an error, a stolen base by a swift pinch-runner (JV player just brought up to Varsity for this exact situation), a single to right field by Dylan Koehler for the lone run of the game. Jackson ended the game by turning a double play !
Another thrilling game was in the Class 1 District 2 title game. Alex Crowe's single drove home the winning run in the top of the 7th as Chaffee (#2 seed) knocked off Bernie (#1 seed) 2-1. In a game that saw only 6 total hits, 2 double plays, the pitching dominated and the Red Devils advance!
It really wasn't real good to be seeded #1 in district tournaments this year. In several cases the #2 seed beat the #1 seed. Take a look....Many took place in Class1--Bernie fell to Chaffee, in district 4, it was Winona 9 Couch 7. District 15 the Concordia Orioles 2 Santa Fe Chiefs 1. Sacred Heart won District 14 title over Lackland 9-2. This oddity spread to Class 3 also as Fulton pushed back Coach Davis' retirement with a 2-1 win over N.Calloway. In District 15 of Class 3, Pembroke Hill went 8 innings to topple #1 O'Hara 5-4. Another thriller in a 1-2 matchup saw Carrollton beat Salisbury 4-1 in Class 2 District 15. The Trojans had just gone 11 innings in the semis to beat Westran 4-3 prior to beating Salisbury! All these were #2 victors !
More #1-#2 matchups had a different result. The #1 team justified their seed with victories. In class 2, District 4 Crystal City beat Valle Catholic for the 2nd time this year. The Hornets 1-0 win sent my prediction last week that "Valle has best chance of seeing Springfield" out the window !! More #1 wins over #2...Mark Twain outslugged Elsberry 9-5 in Class 2, District 5 action. Clopton handled Silex 12-2 in District 9 of Class 1. Northeast (Cairo) outpitched Bevier 2-1 to capture the Class 1, District 12 flag. At Class 1, District 1, Cooter outlasted Ricso 10-7 to advance to State Tournament.
It was a tough day for Coach Steve Bieser at Vianney. This outstanding coach works with the Valle players in the summer. In one day at Vianney, Valle drops a heartbreaker to Crystal City(see paragraph above) followed on the same field just a couple hours later by the #1 seed Vianney losing to Parkway South 9-3...ugh...
Skylar Cobb (Scott City) had a fabulous week. He hurled a perfect game in round one of District tournament against Kelly striking out 17 batters. In the title tilt, he shut down Charleston(17-8) as Scott City won 3-0 (scoring just one earnd run). While Cobb again had 17 K's the Bluejays had their opportunities as they stranded 11 runners in the game. It's the Rams third district crown in four years.
Pitching...you want some pitching.. How about Ft Zumwalt North? They surrendered just two runs in three games on route to their district championship. The Panthers shut out Warrenton 4-0, Holt 6-0 and beat Timberland 3-2 to win District and none were thrown same pitcher of the pitching-rich Panthers. Complete game winners were Joey Siegler (2 hits, 6 K's. 0 runs), Jordan Hankins (4 hits, 8 K's 0 runs) and Wade Rothermich (4 hits, 3 K's, 2 runs) as they beat Warrenton, Holt, Timberland respectively.
After Fatima scored 28 runs in their first two district games (each game went just 5 innings), Kolby O'Dowd doused these red hot Comet bats as the shut them down in a New Bloomfield 3-1 win. It was the first District crown for the Wildcats since 1998 but it was it's 16th for the school.
LUCKY NUMBER 5 !......... es...it was lucky #5 this week! The #5 Seeds had to beat the #4 (often very evenly matched teams) then take on the #1 seed (who occasionally had a bye in the first round). This game against numero uno would require your ace so when you reached the championship game, you had to gamble. Well...it worked for some...
In Class 3, District 14, St Pius X (#5 seed) barely edged Oak Grove 8-6 in the opening round. In the Semis, St Pius shocked a very talented Grain Valley team 5-3. Later that day, St Pius upended Richmond 6-0 to win the district. At the seeding meeting, St Pius was under .500 !
In Class 2, District 16 championship game, it took 8 innings for W. Platte(#5 seed) to beat Lathrop (#2 seed) 10-7.
Smith-Cotton ,seeded #5 in Class 4 District 13, is our SURVIVOR OF THE WEEK. In the opening round, the Tigers edged Ray-Pec 7-6. The Semis, saw Smith-Cotton outlast Lee Summit North 8-6. The Championship game went extra innings (8 innings) as Lee Summit fell to these unbelievable SURVIVORS--8-4.
Some other games of note... Branson (23-4) used a squeeze bunt to drive home the winner in a 3-2 victory over Kickapoo (19-9). Isaac Johnston, on his first bunt sign of the year, got the bunt down in the bottom of the 7th to send everyone home. The Pirates advance and will face Webb City in the first round of the State Tournament.
Webb City (19-6) , competing in Class 4 for the first year, used the strong southpaw pitching of Junior Tyler Burgess as they beat Carthage 6-3. Burgess twirled a 6 hitter as he went the distance over the Tigers who finish at 12-13. Carthage didn't go down without a fight as they threatened in the 7th by scoring a run a putting the tying run up at the plate but Burgess went to his fast balls to get the final out. Carthage was seeking their first district baseball title in 17 years.
Ft Zumwalt South (23-6) had the most stunning win of the week. Trailing 5-2 coming into bat in the bottom of the 7th against one of their toughest rivals--Francis Howell(23-8). Using an error and a couple key hits, the Bulldogs scored 4 runs ! In the four meetings between these two team, South won three times and now will face CBC in the Sectional round.
Lots of Sectional, quarterfinal action in baseball and girls soccer this week! Semifinals and Championships in Boys Lacrosse will be Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. For all your high school sports LIVE coverage-- it's the Prepcasts Broadcasting Network on www.prepcasts.com
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