After eliminating Jackson, Ford & Sons fell short

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Thanks to steady pitching from starter Lance Young and reliever Kory Kitchen, Cape Girardeau's American Legion team put a scare into top-seeded Dunklin County in the losers bracket final of the District 14 tournament Saturday, but Cape's offense could not deliver in a 4-3 loss.

Dunklin County will face No. 2 Scott County at 1 p.m. today in the championship round of the double-elimination tournament. A 4 p.m. game will follow if Dunklin County wins the first game.

The atmosphere Saturday for Cape and Dunklin County was much different from Wednesday's winners bracket meeting, when Dunklin County pummeled fourth-seeded Cape Ford & Sons 20-4 in seven innings.

"We expected this kind of game," Dunklin County coach Jamie Johnson said. "Cape's always got a classy team. I expected it to be a close game tonight."

Dunklin County had runners on in each of the first three innings, but Young was able to work out several jams. Young, a complete-game winner in Cape's opener Tuesday, was not so lucky in the fourth.

Brandon Massey led off the inning with a double, and Chip Smith followed with an RBI single. Young brought home another run when, with runners at first and third and two outs, he threw a pickoff attempt past Dane Balsmann at first. Dustin Hunter finished the scoring in the fourth with an RBI single.

Anthony Patton put Dunklin County up 4-0 with a two-out single in the sixth. Hunter scored the run after he had reached on a two-out infield single.

On the mound, Kenny Abernathy had only allowed one hit through five innings. Ford & Sons had promising innings end in the fourth and fifth innings via the double play.

"Some of those balls we hit hard that were right at people on the infield could have gone for basehits," Cape coach Dave Meyr said. "A couple more basehits and we could have gotten some more runs."

Cape finally got to Abernathy in the bottom of the sixth, showing patience at the plate as Abernathy ran out of steam. With two out and none on, Adam McMahan and Young drew back-to-back walks. Blake Slattery drove in a run with an RBI double.

Balsmann followed with the third walk of the inning. Zach Plott then battled off several 3-2 pitches before blooping a single over the second baseman's head for a two-run single.

Heath Storey replaced Abernathy and struck out Kirk Boeller to end the threat.

Storey was the difference over the final 3 1/3 innings. Cape went hitless once the flame-throwing Kennett graduate entered the game, with batters reaching three times on an error and two walks.

"When Heath comes in and he's right, he's extremely successful," Johnson said.

Ford & Sons' only threat came in the bottom of the ninth. Plott reached on an error by the first baseman. After a Boeller sacrifice, Frank Soltys reached on a walk.

With the tying run on second, Storey reached for a little extra. Kitchen struck out looking, and leadoff hitter Eric Ennis struck out swinging to end the game.

"It was a tough game tonight," Meyr said. "I told the kids they played well. One thing about these kids, they won't give up. They always battle to the end and they did tonight."

Storey got seven of his 10 outs by the strikeout, catching four Cape hitters looking. Cape hitters struck out 11 times overall and managed three hits.

"It's just one of those things that you just have to hit the pitches," Meyr said.

Young took the loss despite pitching seven strong innings. Young struck out five, walked four and allowed eight hits. Kitchen struck out two, hit a batter and allowed one hit over the final two innings.

"Lance threw a great game and Kory came in and threw well in the eighth and ninth," Meyr said. "You can't fault our pitchers. They threw well tonight."

Dunklin County will get a second crack at Scott County today in the championship round. Scott County scored a run in the ninth inning to upset the top seed 5-4 in the winners bracket final on Thursday.

"It's been since 2002 when we won a district championship and we like the opportunity," Johnson said. "We like to be in the championship game. It's been a few years since we've been in the championship game.

"They're [Scott County] the No. 2 team in the district and it's good for a tournament to have the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the championship."

Cape made its way to the losers bracket final with a 17-1, seven-inning win over No. 3 Jackson earlier Saturday. The game resumed in the top of the fifth inning after being suspended on Friday due to rain.

Justin Myers pitched all seven innings for the win, and Balsmann led Cape with four hits and five RBIs.