Kelly, Scott City to play for district baseball crown

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Ty Householder wasted little time or pitches once he stepped foot on the mound for Kelly.

The junior used just six pitches to get the first three outs and threw 22 pitches after three innings for the second-seeded Hawks in a complete-game, 8-3 win over East Prairie during the semifinals of the Class 3 District 2 tournament Thursday at Hillhouse Park.

Householder's quick work helped Kelly move into the district championship game against top-seeded Scott City, 13-3 winners over Saxony Lutheran, at 4:30 p.m. today.

"That kind of set the tone for us in the beginning of the game," Householder said about his start. "We knew that it could, so we came out hot."

Householder outlasted East Prairie starter Mack Marcum, who also fell into a groove allowing one run on one hit through the first four innings. The senior right-hander struck out five before things got murky in the fifth inning when Kelly (13-15) grabbed a lead it wouldn't surrender.

Householder struck out five and allowed six hits.

"He's solid and he's our top guy on the mound. Everybody behind him knows that," Kelly head coach Justin McAlister said. "Playoff baseball, whether its high school, college, whatever, that first inning is huge. If your guy can settle in like that early, that kind of settles the nerves for everybody else. He definitely set the tone that first inning."

East Prairie, the tournament's third seed, ended the season with an 8-13 record.

Kelly struck first in the bottom of the third to break up the pitcher's duel.

With two outs, a throwing error by East Prairie first baseman Dalton Coots allowed Mitchell Procter to reach first safely and keep the inning alive. Kyle Fitzgerald, Kelly's No. 3 hitter, followed with a double to deep left which allowed Procter to beat a high throw to the plate for a 1-0 Kelly lead.

After a scoreless fourth inning, eight runs were scored in the fifth -- five of them belonged to Kelly.

East Prairie grabbed its only lead of the game after Marcum belted the first pitch he saw in the at-bat for a one-out double that pushed across two runs. He later scored on a groundout by Seth Johnson to make it 3-1 East Prairie.

"When we need him the most, he usually comes through," East Prairie coach Jason Aycock said about Marcum. "Sure enough he had a big at-bat and came through."

After scoring in the fifth, the Eagles were held to one hit the next two innings.

Kelly regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth with it all starting with a leadoff walk to Wyatt LeDure. Householder singled and Fitzgerald was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Levi Alsup, who saw his fly ball into shallow left field drop between players to score a run.

"It was a bloop fly ball that we just lost communication on," Aycock said. "Games like these, you can't make those mistakes."

Kelly tied the game after Marcum hit Jacob McClain with a pitch with the bases loaded. Jaramiah Bain gave Kelly its lead back with a single to right field that scored both Fitzgerald and Alsup. Kelly added its fifth run of the inning on an RBI hit from Jonathan Tyler for a 6-3 advantage.

Kelly added two more runs in its half of the sixth after Alsup was hit by a pitch and Bain was walked with the bases loaded.

"That's one thing that we've worked on from day one is that with this group they didn't know how to win," McAlister said. "When stuff starts going bad they want to react in that direction. We had an error in that inning when they scored three, but they way we bounced back and put up a five-spot speaks volumes about these guys picking each other up."

Kelly will meet Scott City (17-12) for the third time this season losing both previous matchups 13-9 and 12-6.

"Doesn't mean a thing," Householder said about the two losses earlier this season. "It's just another game."

E. Prairie 000 030 0 -- 3 6 1

Kelly 001 052 X -- 8 6 2

WP -- Ty Householder. LP -- Mack Marcum. 3B -- Kyle Fitzgerald (K). 2B -- Mack Marcum (EP), Ty Householder (K). Multiple hits -- East Prairie: Dylan Lingle 2-3; Kelly: Ty Householder 2-3.

Scott City 13, Saxony Lutheran 3

Braden Cox blasted a triple and went 3 for 4 as the top-seeded Rams trounced the fifth-seeded Crusaders to advance to today's Class 3 District 2 championship game.

Dakota Talley was the winning pitcher for Scott City (17-12). He threw a no-hitter for 2 2/3 innings and had one strikeout and two walks.

Conrad Bonney endured the loss on the mound. He pitched 3 1/3 innings and gave up six runs (four earned) on six hits. He had one strikeout and walked two.

Tyler Dowdy, Paris Johnson and Luke LeGrand each had a hit to pace Saxony Lutheran, which finished its season with a record of 16-7.

Saxony Luth. 110 100 0 -- 3 3 4

Scott City 300 307 X -- 13 12 2

WP -- Dakota Talley. LP -- Conrad Bonney. 3B -- Braden Cox (SC). 2B -- Trent Pobst (SC), Tyler Rogers (SC). Multiple hits -- Scott City: Isiah Berry 2-4, Braden Cox 3-4, Trent Pobst 2-3.