KELLY NIPS ND AGAIN IN DISTRICT TITLE GAME

CHAFFEE -- Last year it was a pitchers' duel. This year it was a slugfest.

But the result was the same.

For the second successive season, Kelly High's baseball team nipped Notre Dame by one run in the Class 2A, District 2 championship game. The Hawks won 8-7 Friday.

"Every sport they're our rivals," said Kelly senior Denver Stuckey. "We watched the basketball game they beat us in and watched how they celebrated. We wanted to show them how to celebrate. It was very sweet to beat them twice in a row in the districts."

Last year Kelly pitcher Justin Vetter edged Nathan McGuire 3-2 in the district title game. The Hawks went on to place third in the state.

With the two seniors graduated, the bats dominated Friday's game, which was scheduled for Thursday but was rained out. Kelly touched Notre Dame for 10 hits, seven coming off Ryan LeGrand, who started the game and lasted 3 1/3 innings.

Notre Dame got six runs on seven hits off Kelly starter Jim Hulshof -- and nine hits in all.

Stuckey entered in the fifth with Kelly leading 8-6. Stuckey allowed one run in the fifth as LeGrand led off with a bloop single, moved up two bases on an errant pick off try and scored on a wild pitch, making the score 8-7.

But from there Stuckey dominated. The right-hander retired nine of the Bulldogs' last 10 batters -- six on strikeouts. In the sixth, Stuckey struck out Notre Dame's Nos. 1 through 3 hitters in order -- including Josh Eftink, who was 3-for-3 with a two-run homer in the fourth before the strikeout.

"I bet I couldn't do that again if I tried," Stuckey said. "My fastball was about as fast as it's ever been. I just rode it.

"I don't want to say that that was the game right there," said Notre Dame coach Gregg Muench, "but it was a big point in the game."

Stuckey threw 83 pitches in Kelly's win Tuesday over Chaffee. The extra day's rest because of the rainout allowed Stuckey to be fresh.

"Having the day off because of the rain helped us," said Kelly coach Mike Scott. "I knew I would get three or four strong innings out of him."

A Bradley Kolwyck single gave Kelly a 1-0 lead in the second inning. But Notre Dame got four runs on three hits in their part of the third, all with two out.

After run-scoring singles from Matt Bollinger and LeGrand, Bollinger scored on a wild pitch, and Scott Essner, running for LeGrand, came home as he got into a rundown in which Kelly third baseman John Livingston threw the ball away.

Kelly (20-4) answered with two runs on four hits in their half of the third as Hulshof and Nathan Dirnberger each had RBI singles.

The Bulldogs (13-9) then got Eftink's two-out blast, his seventh of the season, over the left-center field fence in the fourth. That gave Notre Dame a 6-3 advantage.

But the Hawks answered again with five runs on only two hits in their part of the fourth. After LeGrand walked the inning's first two batters, Ben Klipfel plated both with a single. Glastetter then drove in a run on a fielder's choice, and Hulshof added another score on a double to the wall.

Hulshof went to third as catcher Scott Reinagel's pick off try bounced off Eftink at second. He later scored as Reinagel tried to throw out Jamie Essner stealing second.

"(Kelly) hit the ball well," Muench said. "Quite a few of them weren't hot smashes, but they were well-placed."

Kelly will play host to a sectional game against Senath-Hornersville at 4 p.m. Thursday.