Chaffee scores decisive run in seventh inning vs. Bernie to win championship

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- In a game where hits were a rare commodity, Alex Crowe's RBI single up the middle in the top of the seventh broke a 1-1 tie and helped the Chaffee Red Devils slip past Bernie 2-1 and capture the Class 1 District 2 championship Wednesday.

An error on a routine ground ball by Jason Cicardi in front of home plate opened the door for Chaffee in the seventh as a wild pitch and a passed ball moved him to third and set the stage for Crowe's single up the middle.

"I thought, 'Oh God, help me.' I just choked up and hit the baseball," Crowe said. "We played as a team. That was the No. 1 thing. We never gave up. Coach always says to play to win, not to lose."

Bernie tried to rally in its last at-bat as Blake Trover led off with a walk and Cameron Shipman bunted him to second. Jesse Shelton's grounder to Crowe produced the second out, and Chaffee coach Brian Horrell elected to intentionally walk Jake Welch for the second time in the game. Jake Owens was Bernie's last chance and he tested Crowe, who again was up to the challenge. He fielded the grounder cleanly and threw to first to nail down the district title. It was Chaffee's first district title since 2001.

"Yesterday I had two of them [ground balls] hit to me and made errors on both of them, but I just stayed with it," Crowe said of the game's final out. "Practice, practice, practice and it paid off."

Chaffee shortstop Alex Crowe prepares to catch the ball as the Red Devils force out Bernie's Jesse Shelton during the third inning of the Class 1 District 2 championship game Wednesday in Chaffee, Mo. (DAVID JENKINS ~ Sikeston Standard-Democrat)

Both teams combined for just six hits as the game was controlled by defense and pitching. Chaffee had two game-changing double plays, the first coming in the fourth inning that cut down a Bernie runner trying to advance to third, and the second on a laserlike shot by Owens with the bases loaded in the fifth that was gloved by Crowe, who stepped on second to double up a Bernie runner.

"We got some bad breaks, but to talk about that is making excuses," Bernie coach Jason Long said. "It's just a baseball game. Both pitchers threw well. We had our chance in the fifth inning with the bases loaded. Jake Owens couldn't hit the ball any harder. He just ripped it."

Andrew Dooley picked up the win for Chaffee in relief of starter Daniel Dooley in the sixth. Daniel Dooley allowed just three hits while recording two strikeouts and two walks.

"Daniel Dooley is a kid we are going to be fortunate to have in our program for the next two seasons," Horrell said. "He has struggled a little bit throughout the season. Some days he looks great, other days he struggles with his control. We just had to hope he was right today."

Daniel Dooley pitched to three batter's in Monday's opening round and didn't record an out. But that didn't shake Horrell's confidence in him.

"He's not necessarily a No. 3 on anybody's team, but on our team that is where he is at," Horrell said. "He settled down after the initial walk and pitched through some tight situations. He was on the borderline a few times because in a game like this you can't go very long. I tried to stay with him as long as I could and he kept getting out of it and finally I just thought the time was right to go with his brother, the horse that got us here."

Bernie's Quinton Stevens went the distance. He allowed just three hits while ringing up 11 Red Devils batters.

"I thought that Quinton pitched really, really well," Long said of his hard-throwing senior right-hander. "He pitched through some adversity there and I'm real proud of him. He did a good job of keeping his composure and he kept us in the game. We had a chance to win at the end and that's all you can ask for."

Bernie scored the game's first run in the first inning as Shelton drew a walk, stole second, moved to third on an error and scored on a single by Stevens.

Chaffee tied the game in the top of the third after a walk to Cicardi, who stole second and scored on Jared Walker's single.