By Anvil Welch
Globe Sports Writer
CARL JUNCTION, Mo. —
The Carthage American Legion baseball team shrugged off a five-run opening inning by Springfield Hillcrest on Sunday to finish unbeaten in the Missouri Zone III AAA Tournament.
The 13-8 win advances Carthage, 31-10 with a nine-game winning streak, into Missouri’s four-team finals at Sedalia.
Carthage will debut at 8:30 on Thursday night against defending champion Festus Post 253 in the double-elimination event. Festus, which beat Eureka 7-2 on Sunday to claim Zone IV, also reached the Legion World Series in 2009 by beating Pittsburg Post 64 in a regional.
Hillcrest, a 19-12 loser to Carthage earlier in the tourney, earned another shot by beating Warrensburg 11-3 in seven innings on Saturday night in the losers’ final.
That game was suspended by rain and lightning and scheduled to resume at noon on Sunday. But wet grounds forced a delay in the schedule and tournament director Charlie Long ruled that the Hillcrest-Warrensburg score was final and that the remaining game, or games, would be seven innings.
The Hillcrest-Carthage contest, thanks mainly to several bags of Diamond Dry and work by Legion officials and coaching staffs, including Carl Junction’s Flave Darnell, started at about 3 p.m.
Carthage began battling back with a four-run second. Hillcrest, however, still led 7-6 entering the bottom of the fifth. Carthage then struck for six runs for a 12-7 advantage.
Said Hlllcrest coach Ryan Schaffitzel: “Our pitching was done. We had enough hitting (to compete). We didn’t have any arms. It was too much to overcome. None of the pitchers we were using hadn’t thrown 60-70 pitches yesterday or the day before.
“We don’t have anything to complain about,” Schaffitzel said. “They just hit the ball very well. They could have rolled over after we scored those five runs.”
Caleb Fierro, who finished 12 of 15 in the three tourney games, drew a walk to start Carthage in the fifth.
Tadd Wagner doubled and Ethan Wiggin followed with a two-run single to put Carthage ahead 8-7. Wiggin continued to second on a wild throw and scored on a single by Terrin Garber.
Joe Allan singled and Sam Carlton’s bunt placed runners at second and third. Dalton Cossey singled in Garber and Brian Poston capped the frame with a two-run double past third base.
Carthage assistant Jerry Poston (Brian’s dad), with the situation seemingly bleak early, was his usual cheerleading self.
“Really, I was confident about coming back,” Jerry Poston said. “We were hitting the ball. We just had to play our game. It’s a matter of believing.”
Allan, a right-hander, worked the distance for Carthage despite the five-run, four-hit first inning that also included two errors.
Said Carthage coach James Kinder: “Joe started slowly and was coming off a rocky outing against Cassville in the District 17 Tournament. But the bottom line is that Joe is a competitor.
“Joe said he wanted to finish in that seventh inning. He started earlier getting ahead of the hitters and gaining confidence. A big factor, too, was that he began getting his breaking ball over the plate.
“You can’t overlook the pitch-calling of Brian (Poston) behind the plate, either,” Kinder said. “He had another strong game catching as well as the clutch double.”
Allan stroked two doubles among four hits and scored three runs. Garber had two hits, three runs scored and three RBI.
The Hillcrest Merchants Post 69ers got two hits apiece from Dylan Hansen, Drew Witt and Blaine Cheek. Hansen drove in two runs.
Hillcrest, in ousting Warrensburg, jumped in front 11-1 after three innings. They scored four runs in the first on a walk to Dallas Williams, a stolen base, a run-scoring single by Hansen, a pass to Michael Esther and a three-run homer by Witt.
Hansen added a two-run double during a five-hit, four-run second.
Hansen, Williams, Witt and Levi Skinner each had two hits for Hillcrest. Alex St. Pierre had three singles for Warrensburg.
Hillcrest’s Keenan Gore worked four innings for his third win of the event. Fellow right-hander Witt finished for the save.
Hillcrest and Warrensburg finished with respective records of 19-17 and 22-10.
