Hanback’s walk-off knock claims third place for Red Devils

The Chaffee Red Devils concluded the 2023 campaign with a dramatic 1-0 walk-off win over Maysville on Tuesday in the Class 2 third-place game at Sky Bacon Stadium in Ozark.

The game was well-pitched on both sides up until the bottom of the seventh when Leyton Hanback stepped in with the bases loaded and drove a ball to the left side to score the winning run.

“It was two teams that threw a bunch of strikes and made all the plays defensively,” Red Devils coach Aaron Horrell said. “Yesterday we had the bats going and didn’t play well defensively and today we struggled a bit offensively but played really well defensively.”

After losing the semifinal game to Salisbury 11-5 on Monday, Horrell said he thought his team would bounce back.

“The final score doesn’t really reflect it but we were in that game (yesterday) the whole time,” Horrell said. “Obviously, when you come this far you want to play for a state championship but when we got on the bus today to go to the park I told the kids that they owe it to themselves and they owe it to our fans and our community for all the support that they’ve stepped up and given to us to go out on a high note and end the season with a win. Only two schools in class two get to end their season with a win and we’re proud to say that we are one of them.”

Peyton Vaughn got the start for Chafee and he tossed five scoreless innings allowing two hits while striking out five.

Kade Atkins got the ball in relief of Vaughn and he threw two clean innings with two strikeouts in the win for the Red Devils.

“Those two guys really went out and battled,” Horrell said. “Peyton has been the guy that we’ve gone to in a starting role besides McKinnie and his other starts were a little bit shorter. Today the plan was for him to go three (innings) but he was throwing the ball really well and we just kept going with him. Kade Atkins has been nails for us in relief all year and he did a great job to finish it up.”

The remarkable thing about the Red Devils roster is that they will return nearly everyone except two seniors in Seger Ruiz and Zaven Leible.

“We can’t take it for granted that we got here,” Horrell said. “We can’t have the mindset of complacency saying because the truth of the matter is our district was really good. Greenville is really good and they got upset and Portageville is number one in class three and they’re coming back to class two next year. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be a gauntlet to get out of the Southeast Missouri area next year to get back here. We can’t count any chickens before they hatch because if we make it out next year it’s going to be an unbelievable season.”

The win over Maysville gives Chaffee a record of 22-10 to wrap up the 2023 season.