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Eighth inning woes doom Scott County
CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Ste. Genevieve Post 150 legion team took full advantage of their late inning opportunities Thursday night to edge out Scott County Post 369 at Notre Dame 14-9.
Things didn't start out that way though as Scott County seemed to be in prime position to take the victory before heading into districts.
"Well, like usual we fell behind 9-0," said Ste. Genevieve head coach Junie Basler. "We weren't hitting that ball at all and that's kind of been our problem all year long. We come out and don't put many good at-bats together."
Ste. Genevieve could credit part of that to the pitching of Post 369's Shae Simmons and Chris Asmus, as the duo combined for six shutout innings, walking four and striking out three while allowing only one hit.
But despite the uphill battle, Basler still felt as though his team could climb back in it.
"The one thing about this team is that the boys never give up," said Basler. "They're gonna come out and play all nine innings win or lose."
Post 150 began chipping away in the seventh, as a few misplays helped narrow the lead 9-4. But it wasn't until the next inning that Ste. Genevieve seemed to take all the momentum.
With one down and two on in the top of the eighth, Post 150's Aaron Weltner connected with a 3-run home run to bring his team within two.
"That was a big turning point," said Basler. "That 3-run homer got us within two and actually put some life back into us. We just kept chipping away from there and had a big inning which turned out to be the ball game."
The visiting team continued to pour on the runs in the eighth before capping off a nine run inning on a sacrifice fly by Casey Koller. Post 150 would then go on to tack on one more run in the ninth to seal the victory.
"It was one of those games coming in that I kind of had scripted out," said Scott County head coach Denver Stuckey. "It was more of a day to get everyone work. I knew coming in I wanted to get everyone two or three at-bats and I had several pitchers I wanted to see get work.
"Of course, I'm disappointed anytime you lose a big lead but hopefully we c correct some things and be ready for districts next week."
Picking up the win for Ste. Genevieve was pitcher Kurt Vaeth while Post 369's Levi Felter was credited with the loss.
At the plate, Post 150 was lead by Weltner who went 2-for-3 with two walks and a home run while Scott County was lead by Felter who went 3-for-5 with two doubles.
"Offensively we've been hitting about .370 as a team," said Stuckey. "I know we're gonna hit the ball but we need to fine tune our pitching and defense.
"But next week we're expected to have all our players here so I like our chances. When we got our best pitchers on the mound and our best defense then we're tough to beat."
Scott County (15-14) will be back in action Saturday at Notre Dame when they take on Farmington at 2 p.m. Post 369 will begin districts Tuesday when they face Jackson on the road at 5 p.m.