Festus defeats Dunklin County in American Legion zone tourney showdown

The marquee matchup in Thursday's opening round of the American Legion Zone 4 baseball tournament lived up to its billing.

Runs were tough to come by, as expected, when perennial powerhouses Dunklin County and Festus squared off.

Alex Winkelman bested Tyler Thompson in a battle of premier pitcher, helping two-time defending state champion Festus emerge with a 3-1 victory at Capaha Field.

"It was a very, very good ballgame," Festus coach Pat Bone said.

Festus (29-3) advances to today's 6 p.m. winners bracket final against either Manchester or Creve Coeur. Those squads played late Thursday night in a game that still was under way at press time.

Dunklin County (28-10) falls into the losers bracket of the five-team double-elimination event. The A's will face host Cape Girardeau Ford and Sons Post 63 at 3 p.m. today in a battle of District 14 rivals.

Thompson, who already has a season under his belt as one of the top hurlers for juco World Series qualifier Jefferson College, entered zone play having thrown three consecutive shutouts, including a one-hit, 20-strikeout performance against Jackson in last week's District 14 tournament.

Thompson wasn't shabby Thursday, allowing a fifth-inning run and four hits while striking out seven and walking two. He left trailing 1-0 after seven innings.

"We beat a very, very good pitcher today, no doubt about it," Bone said. "We were trying to get as many pitches tacked on him as possible. I think it worked."

Festus added runs in the eighth and ninth innings off Perry Middleton.

That was enough for Winkelman, a left-hander who recently completed his junior year at Crystal City High School.

Winkelman went all nine innings. He allowed seven hits, struck out nine and walked three. He had a shutout through eight innings.

"We knew it would be a good battle," Winkelman said. "But I just tried to pitch against their team, not him."

Winkelman escaped some serious late jams.

The A's loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning but failed to score. They had runners on first and third with nobody out in the eighth inning thanks to a pair of errors but also came up empty.

Dunklin County finally broke the shutout in the ninth inning and had runners on first and third when the game ended.

"How about Alex Winkelman?" Bone said. "To hold that team to one run, and no runs as long as he did. ... he made some unbelievable pitches."