July 17, 2014
Squirrels claim seventh state championship after 3-1 win over Boonville
The Charleston Fighting Squirrels rally behind Cody Payne's one-hit gem to bring home it's seventh Senior Babe Ruth Missouri State championship in eight seasons on Wednesday.
By Brent Shipman - Standard Democrat
sports@standard-democrat.com
CHARLESTON -- With their seventh Senior Babe Ruth Missouri State title on the line Wednesday, the defending champion Charleston Fighting Squirrels brought the Payne.
As in Cody Payne.
Despite not getting the nod until earlier in the day from head coach Michael Minner, the Chaffee native was lights out on the mound against Boonville coming one pitch away from throwing a no-hitter.
As Payne dealt, his offense spotted him a three-run lead and the Squirrels would hold on for a 3-1 win that gives them their seventh championship in eight years.
"At about 11:30 this morning I got the text asking me if I was good to go," Payne said. "I gave him a thumbs up. The two innings I pitched this weekend was more like bullpen work. I was little worn out those days from catching the whole game before I took the mound, but my arm felt really good today coming into it."
Through six innings Payne never gave Boonville a chance to start a rally as they scattered three base runners through three separate innings on a couple walks and a Squirrel error.
His only sign of trouble came with two outs in the top of the seventh when he was one strike from completing a no-hitter.
Payne drew a full count to Boonville hitter Trevor Huta only to see his pay-off pitch called outside for his third walk of the night. Jady Reece made him pay in the next at-bat with a double up the middle to score Huta and bring the tying run to the plate.
"I don't think the pressure what's got to me," said Payne, who was aware of the no-hitter. "I got behind to the guy 1-0 so I was trying to get ahead with a strike to even the count. I ended up leaving it over the plate too much and he made me pay for it."
Before anymore damage could be done Payne induced a grounder to short that Tim Fox gathered and fired to first baseman Matt Ulrich for the out to seal the win.
"Cody was tremendous today," Minner said. "He was the difference in the game. Boonville was probably the best hitting team here and they showed it all week. They were excellent offensively and for Cody to step in and only give up one hits with two outs in the seventh, what a remarkable performance. He's a great kid."
As big as Payne's performance was, it was the offense giving him early run support with a three-run rally in the bottom of the third using small ball to attack Boonville's defense.
Colton Hampton led off the inning with a single up the middle and Charleston responded by bunting in three of their next four at-bats. The first two of the bunt attempts were met with fielding errors by Boonville to load the bases, sending leadoff hitter Brad Potts to the plate with no outs.
Potts sent a line drive up the middle to score both Hampton and Ulrich to put the Squirrels up 2-0.
"Whenever we get on with no outs Minner likes to bunt and just see what happens," Potts said. "It was happening. I had to settle down and take a deep breath. He just threw me that good pitch and I winged on it."
Fox followed Potts with a bunt for a base hit to once again load the bases.
Following a Boonville pitching change, Luke Haines hit a grounder to short that turned into a doubleplay but plated another insurance run to give his team a 3-0 lead.
"We hit into a doubleplay when they made that change," Minner said. "At that point the way Cody was throwing we'll trade the doubleplay to get an insurance run. Three runs was all Cody needed."
Wednesday's winner-take-all final had a much different feel to it than Charleston's first chance to clinch the title the night before. Coming out of the winner's bracket the Squirrels faced Boonville less than an hour after they secured their final win on the loser's side of the tournament. Boonville proceeded to go up early on the Squirrels en rout to a 9-3 season-saving win.
After the disheartening loss where Charleston players admittedly felt they played flat, they decide to lighten the mood before Tuesday's rematch.
"Last night we didn't play very well," Fox said. "We came back out here today and coach told us 'It's just another game. Don't be nervous about it.' We went out and had a team lunch today. We just kind of settled the nerves and had fun. We came out here before the game, messed around and had fun."
As important as lightening the atmosphere was sorting out the pitching rotation.
Five games over the prior six days left Charleston without anyone on full rest and Minner looking for options. Minner weighed starting Potts, Ulrich or Sandlin, who all had thrown significant innings already, before going to Payne.
Despite being on a short leash, Payne never gave his team a reason to worry and finished the day allowing the one run on one hit and three walks while striking out six.
"We had options and when we talked his name wasn't even brought up," Minner said. "As I got home last night and got to thinking about things I called him about midnight last night and we talked. We made the decision that we were going to go with him and hopefully he could give us a quality start.
"That would make our bullpen stronger if we could get a quality start out of somebody who was fresh. He showed it today. His velocity was good and he threw four pitches for a strike. He threw it where he wanted to and when he wanted to in any count."
Boonville's lack of fresh arms didn't take long to show Tuesday when, after their starter Chase Snapp loaded the bases in the third, they brought in Josh Judd.
Judd entered the game having thrown seven innings against the Squirrels the night before and also having faced them in another contest on Saturday.
Even having thrown well north of 200 pitches already over the past five days, when he took the mound, Judd finished the game without surrendering a run to keep his team in the game.
Leading Charleston at the plate as they out-hit Boonville 4-1 was Potts, who went 2 for 4 with two RBIs. Fox and Hampton provided the other two hits, both singles, with Hampton also drawing a walk and reaching in all three plate appearances.
The Squirrels now own seven titles in the last eight years, including four straight. They'll head to the Midwest Plains Regional Tournament in North Dakota next week for the eighth straight year.
"This was probably the toughest competition," Minner said of the tournament, which featured a new-high of 14 teams. "There was some great pitching match-ups and teams that had a legit chance to win it. There's teams that sometimes come that have a legit chance of screwing up your chance to win it, but there were teams here that had chances at winning five or six games in a row.
"It was quality field, especially the top five or six."
Boonville 000 000 0 - 1
Charleston 003 000 x - 3
WP -- Cody Payne. LP -- Chase Snapp. Multiple hitters: (C) Brad Potts 2-3. 2B -- Jady Reece.
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