Dream over

NMCC falls to Springfield Catholic 5-0 in Class 3 semifinal

sports@standard-democrat.com

O'FALLON -- There will be no magical ending to New Madrid County Central's improbable postseason run to the Class 3 final four.

Having already advanced further than any team in school history the Eagles saw their championship hopes dashed Thursday in a 5-0 loss to Springfield Catholic in the semifinals.

"Offensively we didn't swing the bats very well and we weren't very patient at the plate like we have been," NMCC head coach Joseph McClarty said. "A couple little mistakes caught up with us today and you can't have that against a great team like Springfield Catholic."

It was fielding problems that led to each of the Fighting Irish's first two runs as a mishandled ground ball in the top of the third inning brought home the go-ahead run from third base.

In the fourth, Springfield Catholic's leadoff hitter reached on a dropped third strike before eventually being brought home on a single to left field.

After a scoreless fifth frame, NMCC's hole get deeper when the Fighting Irish made good on a leadoff walk by plating their third run of the afternoon on a sacrifice fly to right field.

A passed ball and another sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh brought in the final two runs of the game as the Eagles fell behind 5-0.

"When you get up here and you're playing these great teams you can't make mistakes and we made two critical mistakes today early," McClarty said. "We had an error and a dropped third strike. Both those runners came around to score and led to being down 2-0."

While Springfield Catholic crossed the plate in all but one of the final five innings, their starter, Matt Tipton, worked out of several jams to keep the Eagles at bay.

Only trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the third inning, NMCC put runners on first and third with one out before eventually loading the bases with two outs.

Before any damage could be done, however, a hard hit ground ball was corralled by Tipton who fired to first to end the threat.

NMCC went down in order each of the next two innings, but had the chance to make some noise in the sixth while trailing 3-0.

Following a pair of pop outs to start the inning Timmy Clayton and Jashawn McDaniel both found their way on base to put the tying run at the plate. Once again wiggling out of trouble, Tipton got the next batter on a swinging third strike to keep his team's lead intact going into the final frame.

"We played well (overall), it was just a few errors that killed us at the end of the game," McDaniel said. "They're going to get runs, we just have to use our offense to get runs too."

Added McClarty on the two unsuccessful rallies, "That was just our day."

Picking up the win, Tipton held Eagle batters to only three hits while issuing three walks and striking out nine. He faced five batters over the minimum.

"He's a sidearmed pitcher and we haven't seen one of those all year," Clayton said of Tipton. "It was kind of hard to read the curveball out of his hand. He had a nice curve and an average fastball. We were hitting it, but it was right at them."

In his final start on the mound as an Eagle, McDaniel took the loss despite an admirable performance that kept NMCC in the game until the end. He went all seven innings where he allowed five runs, four earned, on five hits and five walks while fanning four.

At the plate McDaniel led NMCC with two of their three hits on the contest with Lane Chamberlain contributing the other. Austin Lynn, Tripp Keene and Clayton all reached on walks.

"I'm just proud of the run we made," Clayton said. "We gave it out best. Springfield Catholic is a really good team, they hit the ball really well and we didn't hit it. That was the case today.

"Jashawn pitched well, but they hit the ball and we didn't."

Though a championship is now out of the picture, NMCC will step on the field Friday morning in pursuit of third place. They'll play the loser of the Hallsville/Fatima semifinal contest, which was suspended in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday night due to rain.

"I told the kids after the game you have to let it sting a little bit, but when it's all said and done we have to come back tomorrow and win another game," McClarty said. "We'll have Austin Godwin on the mound and we feel like we have a good chance at winning the ball game."

Springfield 001 101 2 - 5 5 0

NMCC 000 000 0 - 0 3 1

WP -- Matt Tipton. LP -- Jashawn McDaniel. Multiple hitters: (S) Daniel Richardson 2-3; (N) McDaniel 2-3.