By Melissa Phillips

sports@joplinglobe.com

INDIANAPOLIS — Sometimes it only takes one inning to make or break a game, and for the Cherokee (Kan.) Little League squad, it was the third inning that proved its downfall on Monday.

In the crucial inning, Cherokee yielded six runs on six hits to Keystone (Nebraska) and was never able to recover in dropping an 8-3 decision in the Little League Midwest Regional.

“That just kind of let the air out of us,” said Cherokee manager Joe Ulery of the third inning. “I felt like we had the momentum and just ran into a couple of mistakes. We got down and we’ve got to figure how to get over those (mistakes) and when we get down, to get back up.”

Cherokee started the game swiftly by opening the top of the first with two runs, their first not only in the game but, also, in the tournament.

“We scored and started hitting the ball better,” said Ulery, whose team lost 3-0 to Minnesota and 17-0 to Iowa earlier in the week. “Their pitcher was throwing hard and we got on the ball and hit the ball.”

Travis Trayer helped get Cherokee on the board after his one-out blooper to shallow center field scored Josh Thompson, who had doubled to deep right earlier in the inning. Cherokee doubled its lead to 2-0 after Dan Peak drew a bases-loaded walk to score Cade Ulery, who also reached base on a walk.

Cherokee held Keystone scoreless until the pivotal third inning, when nerves began to show and Cherokee committed a pair of fielding errors that helped Keystone score the first four batters of the inning.

“It just seems we can’t get the butterflies out of our stomachs,” said Ulery. “They haven’t made those mistakes all year, but, you know, we’re playing some good teams. This is the elite of the elite so you can’t complain about where we got so far.”

“I thought I tried my best,” said Jason Reed, who had one base hit while drawing two walks. “We had a couple of errors, but everybody was trying their best.”

Cherokee saw chances to rally in the fifth when Thompson doubled to score Devin Alters and close the gap to 6-3. Thompson’s double sent Bryce Burdette, who reached base on a fielder’s choice, to third base and brought Cade Ulery, the potential tying run, to the plate. However, Ulery grounded out to second to end the inning and scoring threat.

“All you could do is give all you got,” said catcher Burdette. “Then you’ve got to go from there.”

Cherokee will play its final game against round-robin opponents today, meeting Carthage, Mo., at 1:30 p.m. Carthage lost to South Dakato 13-3 Saturday before dropping a 13-12 heartbreaker to Nebraska on Sunday.

“We’ve got to be able to keep our intensity through the whole game,” said Burkette. “We were yelling early, but after that we were dead.”