Poor play eliminates Cape

Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons entered the American Legion Zone 4 Tournament with high hopes of proving that it belonged in the field.

Instead, Cape had two of its worst performances of the season and was the first squad to be eliminated from the five-team event, courtesy of Friday's ugly 15-9 loss to Anheuser-Busch at Capaha Field.

"It's very disappointing," said Cape manager Tom Reinagel, whose squad lost to Festus 15-4 in Thursday's opening round. "I don't think we really showed people we were worthy of being here."

Ford & Sons was only playing in the zone tournament because it hosted the event while the other four teams earned berths as district champions.

"We had high hopes," said Cape's Timmy Wencewicz. "It's disappointing we didn't play better."

Cape, which ended the year with a 21-18 record after finishing with four straight losses, found itself lacking in virtually every phase of the game during its two zone contests.

After walking nine batters against Festus, Cape came back Friday to issue 16 walks, giving the pitching staff an astounding 25 walks in two games.

"That pretty much tells the story right there," Reinagel said.

Ford & Sons also helped out with six errors -- four coming Friday -- which helped its zone opponents to 12 unearned runs, including eight against Anheuser-Busch.

Cape also did not do all that much at the plate, with just 14 hits in the two games. Ten of those hits came Friday, but five were in the last two innings after Anheuser-Busch had removed its starting pitcher after building up a sizable lead.

Ford & Sons was also hampered in the tournament by injuries. Center fielder Dustin Tatum, one of Cape's best all-around players this year, did not see any action after suffering a separated shoulder during a collision while playing -- of all things -- whiffleball last weekend. And leading hitter Shane Kistner, who entered the tourney with a .470 average, did not play Friday because of an injured hand.

"Those things didn't help," Reinagel said.

Cape was actually looking pretty good Friday as it scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to grab a 4-1 lead and starting pitcher Mark Wittenborn seemed to be in control. Ford & Sons still led 5-3 after seven innings.

But things fell apart in the top of the eighth as Anheuser-Busch scored eight runs -- only three were earned -- on just two hits to go up 11-5. Six walks and two key errors helped doom Cape.

"That was a nightmare of an inning," Reinagel said.

Wittenborn allowed just five hits and three earned runs (six total) in 7 1/3 innings, although he was hurt by nine walks. He struck out eight. Anheuser-Busch then broke the game wide open against relievers Jeff Brosey and Seth Hudson.

Jake Welch, recently moved up from Cape's Junior Legion team, was the only Ford & Sons pitcher to emerge unscathed as he retired two batters without allowing a hit or run, giving him 1 1/3 hitless innings in the tournament.

Tyler Schlosser led Cape with three hits. Wencewicz and Chris Conrad had two each while Schlosser and Hudson both drove in two runs. Wencewicz had four hits in the tourney.

Josh Morgan pitched seven innings for the victory, allowing five hits and two earned runs (five total), with seven strikeouts and one walk. Morgan also starred at the plate with four hits and five RBIs. Ron Martin and Tony Soaib both had three RBIs.

While the tournament was a disappointment for Cape, Reinagel said he was pleased overall with the season. And he has high hopes for next year.

"Overall, other than the way it ended, I thought we had a pretty good year," he said.

Twelve of this year's 18 players will return next season for Ford & Sons, which should also receive plenty of help -- particularly in the pitching department -- from its Junior Legion squad.

But among the six players who completed their Legion eligibility this year, Kistner and Schlosser were the team's top two hitters while Wencewicz led the squad in home runs.

"We lose some good players, but I think we can have a good team next year," Reinagel said