COMPETITION RULES AT KELSO KLASIC; FAST-PITCH SOFTBALL HEATS UP KELSO

KELSO, Mo. -- With only the love of the game to sustain them, these "weekend warriors" left their hearts, souls and, sometimes, parts of their bodies on the field.

School teachers, salesmen, foundry workers, high-school coaches, postal employees, ex-minor leaguers, grandfathers -- men from all walks of life -- competed for little more than personal and team pride on their field of dreams.

"Every team out here has people that are banged up," said Ron Baker, one of the tournament directors, as well as a player for the Kelso Connection. "But we love the game so much that we just don't want to quit." .

The 17th annual Kelso Klassic fast-pitch softball tournament came to an exciting conclusion with Nokomis (Ill.) Bud Light battling Taylorville (Ill.) Bob Riding Ford for the championship at the Kelso Softball Complex on Sunday night. Final results were not available as the Southeast Missourian went to press.

Nokomis (5-1), winners of the loser's bracket, needed to defeat Taylorville (4-1), the defending Class A Illinois state champion, in the final two games to claim the title. Nokomis squeezed out a 4-3 win in the first meeting to set up the decisive championship matchup.

Lee's Sports-Radom Falcons (Ill.) took third place, while last year's champion Meuth's/Sportsprint (Ill.) finished in fourth.

"It was one of the most competitive tournaments we've had in years," said Baker. "It was anybody's tournament to win."

Kelso Connection (3-2), the host team, had a solid tournament with a 2-1 win over Meuth's in its final game.

In that contest, Brian Drew tallied the winning run in the fifth inning after drawing a walk, advancing to third on a single by Baker and coming home on a Bruce Scheeter sacrifice fly.

Tom Jansen, the winning pitcher, hurled a five-hitter with five strikeouts and two walks. Jansen also had a stellar outing in a 1-0 win over Lafayette Pub (St. Louis) in 11 innings earlier in the day. He allowed seven hits, while fanning 15 and walking none.

Kohlfeld Distributing, the other local entrant, was eliminated with two losses on Saturday.