Payne pitches Chaffee baseball team to district title

CHAFFEE -- With a chance to claim their first district title in three seasons, the Chaffee Red Devils turned to their ace, Cody Payne, to start against Bloomfield in the Class 2, District 3 championship game.

Payne didn't disappoint.

Coming back on short rest, he pitched seven innings of shutout ball Tuesday to guide the Red Devils to a 3-0 win and claim the school's first title since 2010.

"I felt good," Payne said. "Coach Horrell asked how I'd feel going a day early. I threw bullpen yesterday and everything was working good, so I was pretty confident.

"My fastball and curveball was working. I normally have another changeup I throw in there, but I had so much confidence in those two pitches I just stayed with them."

Matched up in a pitching duel against Bloomfield's Kyle Causey, Payne got the benefit of early runs from the Red Devils' offense in the form of a two-run rally in the bottom of the first inning.

A hit batter, infield error and a walk allowed the Red Devils to load the bases before Cody Johnson stepped to the plate. Johnson delivered with a shot to right field that plated a pair of runners, putting Chaffee on top 2-0.

"I got down early in the count, and the only thing I knew to do was choke up and drive the ball opposite field," Johnson said.

Chaffee once again loaded the bases in the frame, but a groundout ended the rally before any more harm could be done.

Payne protected his new-found lead by holding Bloomfield to only three hits the rest of the way, retiring the final 13 Wildcats he faced. He got a boost in the bottom of the fourth when a balk scored Cole Hanna from third to put the Red Devils up 3-0.

Bloomfield tried to rally with a one-out single in the fifth inning, but the runner was eventually tagged out between second and third before Payne retired the Wildcats in order the final two frames.

Payne finished the day allowing four hits and striking out 11 while not walking a batter.

"It was nice to get those two runs in the first inning because I think that helped the defense relax a little bit," Chaffee coach Brian Horrell said. "Plus it gave Payne the chance to go out and challenge hitters.

"He got some guys swinging at some early pitches in counts, and our defense made the plays for him so he didn't have to try and bear down and strike everybody out."

Taking the loss was Bloomfield's Causey.

Causey collected all but the final out for the Wildcats, allowing only two hits and walking four while fanning three. Only one of the three runs Causey allowed was earned with the other two the result of ill-timed errors.

After watching two of his top starters pitch deep into Bloomfield's last two playoff games, Wildcats coach Jason Karnes was pleased to see Causey step up and keep them in the game.

"He was kind of our No. 4, and we had a kid get hurt, and he moved up the ladder a little bit," Karnes said. "He's only really pitched for half the season so he hasn't had as much experience as Tim Fox and Travis Phillips have. But he went out there and pitched really well.

"Once he settled down a little bit after those couple early runs, he threw pretty well."

At the plate, Phillips, Noah Vandiver and Caleb Baker had a single each for the Wildcats. Tim Fox had the team's only extra-base hit, a double to open up the game, but was stranded on third thanks to three straight strike outs by Bloomfield.

For Chaffee, Johnson had the game-winning hit in the first inning while Payne provided the Red Devils their only other hit, a single in the fifth.

"I thought we competed pretty hard and battled for seven innings," Karnes said. "Chaffee is awfully good and Payne was as good as advertised. We had a tough time getting anything going against him, obviously."

Chaffee hosts Valle Catholic on Monday in a Class 2 sectional.

Bloomfield 000 000 0 -- 0 3 3

Chaffee 200 100 X -- 3 2 2

WP -- Cody Payne. LP -- Kyle Causey. 2B -- Tim Fox (B). Records -- Chaffee 22-7, Bloomfield 14-8.