Bloomington Stix capture crown at Kelso Klassic

The Bloomington Stix dominated the Kelso Klassic and captured their third title as the 30th annual 14-team men's fastpitch tournament came to a close Sunday at Kelso City Park.

The Stix went 4-0 in the tournament, capped by a 12-0 win over Black and Gold of Hermann, Missouri, and only gave up three runs to its opponents throughout the tournament. All three runs came in Bloomington's first game against Bushue Brothers Tree Service team of Teutopolis, Illinois.

Bloomington advanced to the International Softball Congress World Series in Kitchener, Ontario, which will take place in August. The Kelso Klassic serves as a qualifier for the ISC World Series.

The Central Illinois Knights lost their opening-round game but won their next five to finish third.

Knights' outfielder Casey Spears won tournament MVP honors. Spears had 14 hits, including two doubles, three triples and a home run. He scored 10 runs and had two RBIs.

B.J. Hunhoff of Bloomington and Eric Steinbeck of Black and Gold were named co-pitchers of the year. Hunhoff finished the tournament 2-0 while allowing nine hits and no earned runs in 12 innings. Steinbeck had 39 strikeouts, allowed 13 hits and five earned runs in 28 innings. He finished the tournament 3-0.

Kelso Fastpitch went 2-2 in the tournament.

After easy wins in its first two games, Kelso lost to the tournament champs in Saturday night's winner's bracket semifinal and to the Central Illinois Knights 3-2 in an elimination game Sunday.