State Champions

Squirrels claim title after 14-4 victory over Boonville

sports@standard-democrat.com

CHARLESTON -- For the sixth time in seven years the Charleston Fighting Squirrels have laid claim to the Missouri Senior Babe Ruth state championship.

Their most recent title came on Tuesday when Charleston finished off one of the most dominant performances in tournament history with a 14-4 win over Boonville in the title game.

"It never gets old," Squirrels' head coach Michael Minner said of winning the championship. "This has been a special group this year of kids. To be 46-9 on the season right now is really impressive and it speaks worlds about these kids, their parents and their high school coaches that have brought them up.

"It's a tribute to area baseball and we've had a heck of a summer."

To say that Charleston bulldozed through the competition would be a fair assessment.

Not once in their five tournament games did the Squirrels allow a contest to go the full seven innings with no teams surviving past the sixth inning winning by the mercy rule every game. In all, Charleston outscored their competition a combined 61-6.

"We don't like to play seven innings," Charleston first baseman Ryan Fortner said. "We like to play five or six and get it over with early. I don't think anybody expected us to (run-rule them all)."

If Tuesday's championship game against Boonville felt like more of a formality to most fans in attendance it's because the Squirrels had beaten the same team 14-0 the day before.

Though Boonville managed a better start in the title game, taking a 2-1 lead after an inning and a half, their success didn't last long. Charleston responded to the challenge with six runs in the bottom of the second to permanently retake the lead, 7-2.

It was a triple from Brad Potts to start the frame that got things going before hits from Cord Sheehy and Chase Young plated a run each. Another run would score on a passed ball before Potts came back up and capped the rally with a two RBI single up the middle.

"We always talk about bouncing back and we've done that all year," Minner said of the rally. "When things don't go our way good teams come back and score runs. We've showed we'll do that all summer."

Charleston added another two runs in the third frame to go ahead 9-2 only to see one final two-run rally by Boonville in the top of the fifth push the Squirrels' five runs away from the mercy-rule.

As they've shown opponents all season, however, it doesn't take much to fuel a Charleston rally and Jared Walker got the Squirrels off to a strong start with a single to lead off the home half of the fifth.

Errors on two of the next three at-bats led to Walker scoring, and before long, Charleston had the bases loaded with the winning run at the plate. Another run came in when Cody Payne hit a misplayed ball to short, which led to Potts stepping to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded.

With runners going on contact, Potts hit a shot to deep left-center field that rolled back to the wall easily bringing in the first two runners. Before Boonville could attempt a relay throw and make a play at the plate, Payne crossed home to send Charleston home with another mercy-rule win and the state title.

"I was just thinking put it in play," Potts said of his walk-off triple. "I know with two outs that the runner on first would win it so I was just like put it in play and see what happens. Our bats have been key this year and our defense has too. It just helps everything when you're offense is going."

By capping the game with his second triple of the night, Dexter's Potts finished his day by going 3 for 3 at the plate with five RBI and a walk. His former high school teammate, Chase Young, also had three hits on the contest serving as leadoff hitter while driving in a pair of runs and scoring another three.

Also helping Charleston to a 12-hit performance was Walker, who went 2 for 3 on the contest with an RBI and two runs scored.

After watching his Chaffee Senior Babe Ruth team get eliminated by Charleston last season and finish second in state the year before, Walker was pleased to finally break through with the Squirrels.

"It feels nice," he said. "Especially because this was my last shot since this is my last year I can play Senior Babe Ruth."

Though Charleston can enjoy their newfound title for a few days, next week brings another challenge for the Squirrels. That's when they'll head to Oskaloosa, Iowa July 31 to compete in the Midwest Plains Regional Tournament with an eye on advancing to the Senior Babe Ruth World Series.

"We're not going to stop here," Minner said. "We have bigger things on our plate right now. You always come into this worried about how you're going to play and we took care of business. We'll go to Iowa next week and I promise that we'll make a good showing for the state of Missouri."

Boonville 020 02 - 4 5 5

Charleston 162 05 - 14 12 1

WP -- Trey Tigart. LP -- Addison Dobe. Multiple hitters: (B) Ethan Sander 2-3; (C) Chase Young 3-4, Brad Potts 3-3, Jared Walker 2-3. 2B -- (B) Alec Vertel; (C) Ryan Fortner. 3B -- (C) Potts 2, Walker.