KELLY'S LUCK RUNS OUT IN FINAL FOUR

COLUMBIA -- Given Kelly High's recent history of one-run wins, the Hawks appeared to have St. Mary's of Independence right where they wanted them late in Wednesday's Class 2A semifinal at Simmons Field.

After knotting the score 1-1 in the top of the fifth inning, it looked like Kelly had the momentum to clinch another close win.

"Late in the game we were like, `We've got them right were we want them,'" said Kelly starting pitcher Denver Stuckey. "The last three or four games we've squeaked them out, and we felt we could do it again."

The Hawks' magic must have left them on their trip to Columbia. St. Mary's scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth and the Hawks were unable to answer, falling 3-1.

The Trojans, who had scored 10 runs or more in eight of their last 11 games, including a 16-2 quarterfinal win, didn't have as much experience in close games. That fact concerned St. Mary's coach Steve Shackelford.

"We knew they had won their last five game by one run, so I told the team we aren't going to win 1-0," said Shackelford. "We were trying to score more runs, but their pitcher (Stuckey) did an outstanding job of changing speeds and keeping us guessing."

The loss puts the Hawks (15-10) in today's 11 a.m. third-place game against John Burroughs (13-10). St. Mary's (20-9) will play for the 2A title at 5 p.m. against Springfield Catholic (21-8).

St. Mary's Luke Jonas (4-1) pitched out of several jams to earn the complete-game win, allowing five hits. Stuckey (6-4) went the distance for Kelly, allowing three hits and one earned run, but was still tagged with the loss.

"We got a good pitching performance from Denver," said Kelly coach Mike Scott. "He's a real competitor and he threw a real good game against a potent lineup."

For the most part, Stuckey pitched around four Hawk errors. But the final miscue, a throwing error by second baseman Ben Klipfel in the sixth, allowed the Trojans to take a 3-1 lead and appeared to break the spirit of the Hawks.

With one out, the score tied 1-1 and the bases loaded, St. Mary's Josh Lee chopped a soft grounder to Hawks shortstop Justin Vetter. With no chance to stop the go-ahead run from scoring, Vetter tossed to Klipfel for a force out at second.

With a slim chance of turning an inning-ending double play, Klipfel threw wildly into the Hawks' dugout, allowing another Trojan runner to score from third.

Scott said he was hoping for a double play ball up the middle in that instance, but the ball wasn't hit hard enough to turn two.

"We have a good double play combination up the middle, so I felt we a had a good chance to get two," said Scott. "We probably didn't have a chance to get the runner at first, but that (error) isn't what beat us."

Stuckey, who struck out six, wasn't down on his defense following the game either.

"We've played good defense all year," Stuckey said. "It's just unfortunate we had some bad breaks today."

The first bad break occurred when the Trojans scored an unearned run in first with a two-out rally. Joe Barbosa walked and stole second base. A wild throw by Hawks catcher John Paul Ziegler sent Barbosa to third, where he scored on a single by clean-up batter Brian Monaco that just avoided the reach of Klipfel.

The Hawks squandered several good scoring opportunities after that, stranding eight runners. Kelly had a excellent scoring opportunity in the fourth inning, but a base-running mistake by Jason Glastetter hurt the Hawks.

With no outs and runners on first and second, Brandin Pattengill grounded to first base. Instead of taking the easy out at first, Trojan first baseman Lee threw to third trying to force out Glastetter running from second.

Glastetter easily beat the throw but rounded the bag, allowing St. Mary's third baseman Mike Ruhlman to tag him out for the first out of the inning.

A strikeout and groundout followed as the Hawks remained scoreless. But Kelly did push across an unearned run in the fifth to tie things up.

John Livingston (2-for-4) doubled to start the inning and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Klipfel. After a walk to Stuckey put runners at first and third with one out, Stuckey took off on a steal of second. The throw went into center field, scoring Livingston as Stuckey went to third, but he was stranded there.

Kelly freshman center fielder Bradley Kolwyck, batting ninth, went 2-for-3 in the loss.

Now the Hawks will turn their attentions to today's third-place game. They remained upbeat despite Wednesday's loss.

"We've got one more game to play," said an optimistic Stuckey. "We came up here to have fun and play ball. Of course we're disappointed (with the loss), but we're not hanging our heads too bad."