Rain assists Cape in 8-4 zone victory

ST. LOUIS -- An assist from Mother Nature -- not that it appeared necessary -- helped Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team win its first Zone 4 Tournament title since 1995.

Cape knocked off Festus 8-4 Saturday night in a game that was called after five innings because of persistent heavy rain that left Heine Meine Field not safe for play, according to the umpires. Since five full innings were played, the contest was official and will not be resumed.

Ford & Sons rolled through the five-team, double-elimination event without a loss and outscored its three opponents by a combined 27-8. Cape also went 3-0 in the District 14 Tournament.

Cape will carry a 28-14 record into the American Legion State Tournament that begins Thursday in Moberly. It will be Cape's first state appearance since 1995.

Festus ends its season with a 22-14 record. After losing its first tournament game, Festus came back with three straight wins before falling to Cape. Ford & Sons had lost to Festus twice during the regular season.

"Even though the game only went five innings, that doesn't take away from what we accomplished," Cape manager Tom Reinagel said. "We've had a great postseason so far and we want to keep it going at state. I'm really proud of this bunch."

Ford & Sons' offense clicked Saturday as Cape piled up 11 hits despite playing just five innings.

Matt Wulfers, Wayne Essner, Chris Conrad and Blake Urhahn all had two hits. Wulfers and Essner both tripled while Urhahn doubled. Essner and Conrad each drove in two runs.

"It feels awesome to win the zone and make it to state," Wulfers said. "You feel kind of bad for Festus, but it doesn't take away from what we did in the tournament."

Lee Essner pitched all five innings for the victory as he improved to 6-2. Essner allowed six hits and two earned runs, with one strikeout, no walks and two hit batters.

"It's a tremendous feeling," Essner said. "It's what we've worked all year for."

Cape took control early by scoring three runs in the top of the first inning against Festus starter Drew Horrell. Seth Hudson led off with a walk. With two outs, Patrick Slattery got an RBI double, Wulfers followed with an RBI triple and Urhahn delivered an RBI single.

Two more runs in the second inning ---- Conrad had an RBI single and another run scored on an error ---- knocked out Horrell, who lasted just 1 1/3 innings.

Essner's two-run triple and Conrad's RBI single keyed a three-run third inning as Cape went ahead 8-0.

"Scoring a lot of runs early helped a lot," Lee Essner said.

Brandon Patek's two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth got Festus on the scoreboard. Festus added a pair of unearned runs in the fifth to pull within 8-4.

But then lightening and rain came, and both teams were pulled off the field. After a delay of a little more than two hours, the rain stopped. But, after the umpires checked out the field, the game was called, making Cape the champion. Festus would have needed to beat Cape Saturday to force the if-necessary title contest, which would have been played today.

Friday's late game

In Friday night's winner's bracket final, Wayne Essner pitched 8 2/3 strong innings as Cape defeated Anheuser Busch 6-3 despite having just four hits.

Essner (4-1) allowed five hits, struck out 12 and walked five. Lee Essner retired the final batter of the game to earn a save.

"Wayne has really pitched well for us this year and he had another very good game," Reinagel said.

Cape took advantage of five errors by Anheuser-Busch (25-8). Lee Essner and Aaron Dohogne both drove in two runs.