|
Webb
City takes tourney
By
Anvil Welch, Joplin Globe
|
Webb
City got the best of Carl Junction 10-1 on Saturday night in
what could be the first of several clashes this season between a
pair of hopefuls in MSHSAA Class 4 prep baseball.
The
victory at Barnes Field gave the Cardinals the Webb City/Carl
Junction Leadoff Classic title.
Carthage
tripped Mount Vernon 7-2 for third place and El Dorado Springs
beat East Newton 12-8 for fifth.
Webb
City led Carl Junction 2-1 after an inning during the meeting
between the unbeatens in the six-team, two-pool tournament and
began pulling away with a run in the fourth and four in the
fifth.
|
| CJ-Webb
City Leadoff Classic |
|
|
At |
|
3/19 |
Carl Junction |
19 |
| East
Newton |
2 |
|
3/19 |
Webb City |
6 |
|
Mt. Vernon |
2 |
|
3/21 |
Carthage |
18 |
|
East Newton |
1 |
|
3/21 |
Mt. Vernon |
5 |
|
El Do. Springs |
4 |
|
3/22 |
Carl Junction |
10 |
| Carthage |
1 |
|
3/22 |
Webb City |
13 |
|
El Do. Springs |
0 |
| 3/24 |
5th
Place
El
Do. Springs
|
12 |
| East
Newton |
8 |
| 3/24 |
3rd
Place
Carthage
|
7 |
| Mt.
Vernon |
2 |
| 3/24 |
Championship
Webb
City
|
10 |
| Carl
Junction |
1 |
|
Carl
Junction (2-1) left the bases loaded in both the first and
second innings.
“We’re
a hit away in those first two innings from making it a different
game,” Carl Junction coach Flave Darnell said. “We didn’t
get the early runs and they began pecking away and putting the
pressure on us.”
Webb
City (3-0), the two-time defending Class 3 champion, extended
its winning streak to 17 games through two seasons.
“Obviously,
it was our best game of the season,” said Cardinal coach Bryce
Darnell, Flave’s brother. “The guys in the middle of the
lineup really did some damage.
“Pitching-wise,
Brett Richardson pitched four innings to keep us in the game.
Chance Sossamon (Richardson and Sossamon are junior
right-handers) had it going. He was in a rhythm. He was throwing
strikes with all of his pitches.”
Sossamon
struck out five in three innings and didn’t allow a hit to
save the decision for Richardson.
Marcus
Ozbun, the Cardinals’ No. 3 hitter, was 3-for-3 with a hit
batter. He ignited a three-run sixth by pulling a solo homer to
right.
Eli
Dykens, the Cardinals’ No. 4 hitter, smoked two triples and a
double in four at-bats. The hardest ball he hit may have been an
out when he sent Zak Porath racing to the center-field fence to
track down his third-inning drive.
Sossamon,
the Cardinals’ No. 5 hitter, reached base three times with two
hits.
Center
fielder Darren Aggus added three hits for Webb City.
Porath,
who also had a run-scoring double for the Bulldogs, came in to
spear Brad Workman’s liner to start a double play in the first
to further stymie the Cardinals.
“Those
are the best two plays I’ve ever seen made by a center fielder
in my eight years (at Webb City),” Bryce Darnell said. |