CAPE GETS IN WRONG ZONE, ELIMINATED FROM TOURNEY

Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team certainly played the part of a gracious host Friday during the Zone Tournament.

In what will probably go down as two of the worst back-to-back tournament performances in recent Cape Legion history, Ford & Sons was bounced from the five-team, double-elimination event being played at Capaha Field.

First, Ballwin handed Cape a 23-2 thrashing in Friday afternoon's winner's bracket semifinal. The contest was stopped after 6 1/2 innings by the 10-run mercy rule.

Ballwin didn't need much help with 22 hits, but Cape was still able to oblige with seven errors.

Then Anheuser-Busch took advantage of nine Cape errors -- which contributed to seven unearned runs -- as it knocked off Ford & Sons 11-8 Friday evening in an elimination contest.

So Cape ends its season with a 24-26 record, having gone 1-2 in both the district and zone tourneys.

"We pretty much stunk it up today. I don't know what else to say," said Cape manager Ron Michel. "Really, the past few weeks, we just haven't played well at all.

"I definitely had much higher hopes for this team. But it just never worked out."

While Cape officially finishes fourth in the five-team zone, Anheuser-Busch from St. Louis clinched at least third place and advances into today's 1 p.m. loser's bracket final. A-B is 23-16.

A-B's Justin Pennycook pitched 7 2-3 innings to get the win against Cape. He allowed nine hits and all eight runs.

Brian Blust retired the game's final four batters for a well-deserved save.

Mike Minner was the tough-luck loser. Of the seven runs he allowed in six innings, only three were earned. He gave up eight hits.

Andy Sweet, Chris Bradshaw and Adam Bertrand both had two of Cape's nine hits. Sweet and Bradshaw both drove in two runs.

Steve Stroup had three of A-B's 11 hits. Mark Strain and Matt Salviccio both added two.

Trailing 5-3, A-B went ahead for good with four unearned runs in the sixth. A-B added four more runs in the seventh, with only one earned.

Friday afternoon's winner's bracket semifinal against Ballwin was a total fiasco for Cape as the St. Louis squad scored in every inning in its first tournament game.

Taylor Twellman had five hits and four RBIs while Pat Ricke had four hits and six RBIs. Jacob Abraham had four RBIs and the tournament's first home run.

Jeff Cleve pitched all seven innings for the win. He allowed five hits, struck out eight and walked three.

Starter Steve Fowler, the first of four Cape hurlers, got the loss. He allowed seven hits and five runs in 1 1/3 innings.

Scott Reinagel had two hits and two RBIs for Cape.

To keep from falling into the loser's bracket right off the bat, Cape had to work late and also work some overtime to knock off De Soto 4-3 in 10 innings Thursday night.

Due to a two-hour rain delay during Thursday's tourney opener between Dunklin County and A-B, Cape and De Soto did not finish their contest until nearly 1 a.m. Friday.

And it took an error by De Soto in the bottom of the 10th inning to allow Cape to squeeze out the victory.

With one out, Shane Gibson singled and went to second on a wild pitch. Todd Pennington was then walked intentionally. Bradshaw hit a one-hopper back to pitcher Perry Richardson, who appeared to have an easy shot at a second-to-first double play.

But Richardson elected to throw to third base instead and the throw was wild, allowing Gibson to score the winning run.

That error marred an otherwise impressive performance by Richardson, who went the distance. In 9 1/3 innings, he allowed just one earned run and six hits.

Cape starter Craig Ringwald worked the first eight innings, allowing five hits and three runs while fanning 11 and walking three.

Dustin Glastetter got the win, pitching two scoreless and hitless innings.

Gibson and Reinagel both had two of Cape's six hits. Reinagel drove in two runs.

In an elimination game to start out Friday's action, A-B rolled past De Soto 11-1 as De Soto was the first team bounced from the tournament.

John Denando allowed one hit and no runs in seven innings to get the win.

A-B had 16 hits, three each from Joe Simokaitus, Matt Tesreau and Pennycook.

De Soto, making its first zone appearance, bowed out with a 20-18 record.