Same Payne for Central: Chaffee senior beats Tigers for third consecutive year

~ Chaffee senior pitches a shutout to beat Tigers for a third straight year

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Heading into the bottom of the sixth inning of a scoreless game between Chaffee and Central, Chaffee ace Cody Payne had a few words of encouragement for his teammates.

"I told my team before the inning started, I said, 'One run, boys. If you can get me one run we'll win this game,'" Payne said. "They scratched it out any way they could and finally pulled out a run for us."

Payne, who pitched a complete-game shutout for the Red Devils on Wednesday, got what he asked for when the Red Devils scored the lone run of the game in the sixth and earned a 1-0 victory over the Tigers in a game dominated by pitching.

Chaffee center fielder Layton Tenkhoff hit a one-out single to left field before stealing second. He scored when the ball shortstop Storm Estes hit took a hop over Central first baseman Hayden Lynn for an RBI single.

With Payne and Central's ace Chase Hagerty on the mound, first-year Central coach Tatum Kitchen and Chaffee coach Brian Horrell expected that runs would be at a premium.

"We've been fortunate the last two years we've played Cape, we've had Cody Payne able to pitch, and it worked out with the rotation that we had him going again," Horrell said. "We were kind of expecting, or hoping, for a very, very tight ballgame because we knew they was probably going to throw Hagerty, and he's exceptionally well, too.

"We knew it was going to be a game that we were going to have to do a lot of bunting, both teams, and you saw that throughout the game. Both teams were being very aggressive, trying to steal second. Not only second, a couple times they tried to steal third on us, trying to find a way to manufacture a run. We talked to our kids about that before the game that this is going to be like a playoff atmosphere game with a lot of bunting, and you've got tobe sharp and everybody's got to be ready to bunt. We executed at times bunting, but other times we struggled. I think we only had like two opportunities and luckily we cashed one in."

Those past two years that Horrell mentioned featured 7-2 and 2-0 wins for Chaffee after having not beaten the Tigers since 2001.

Payne and Hagerty were the starting pitchers in both games. Payne pitched a two-hitter in 2012 and followed that performance with a one-hitter last season.

Chaffee’s Cole Hanna reaches back to catch a pop fly from Central’s Clayton Reynolds during the third inning Wednesday at Chaffee. (Adam Vogler)

"These past three years, since my freshman year I've been throwing against these guys and it's been 1-0, 2-1, just super-close games," Hagerty said, "so we were ready to come bear down, grit our teeth and be ready for a close one."

Payne and Hagerty each had eight strikeouts and one walk in the game.

"This is the first time I've ever seen him throw," Kitchen said of Payne. "It's so hard to hit a guy like him that can locate multiple [pitches]. You know, a lot of good pitchers in high school can locate one or two. He was locating three or four. I thought Chase was matching him pitch for pitch.

"It was an outstanding game that somebody had to lose, and unfortunately we see the error here at the end the game," Kitchen continued, judging the play that allowed Tenkhoff to score as a miscue. "But as coaches, hey, we missed signals, we made some mistakes, and we played a little more reckless than normal because we didn't hit very well. And that's hats off to Chaffee. They didn't make any errors, I think we maybe made one there at the end. But we just made some mental mistakes. It's still early and we still have a couple kids that are still trying to figure the way in. The Payne kid I thought threw excellent. I thought Chase threw outstanding. Just a matter of they got the one run and we didn't."

Neither team had a base runner until the fourth inning, and neither pitcher had trouble getting out of the inning.

Tigers' catcher Josh Morse led off the fifth with Central's first hit of the game and was sacrificed to second. He got caught in a rundown with two outs to end the inning.

Kitchen noted that the Tigers made some mistakes when they did have runners on.

"A couple times we had a bunt signal on and a guy would miss it. Well, then what happens is that guy strikes out, and we don't even get the runner moved up," Kitchen said. "It's not as noticeable to the fans as the error at the end, but we know it and it's a huge impact on the game. I think, too, like I said, is it's a new year. I'm a different coach, so my signs are different so we're still working on them, working those out. But you hate it that those kind of things -- didn't necessarily get you beat, but they took away maybe an advantage you would've had."

Chaffee started the home half of the inning with a single and a walk before the next three batters were retired.

Central threatened again in the top of the sixth with one out and runners on the corners.

Payne faked a pick-off throw to third before throwing to first. The Red Devils were able to throw out pinch runner John Young at home in a call that Kitchen questioned to the umpire. Kaleb Ward struck out to end the inning.

"We had the squeeze on, so honestly ... it was good for them, what they did," Kitchen said. "Just our interpretation was he did not fake to third before he went to first. That didn't get us beat, but boy, it sure hurt us. At the same time, we were going to squeeze there, so when his leg came up we were going, and so it just happened to work for them and that was our argument, but those things happen. We were just trying to make a play to get a run, which we desperately needed, and it just didn't happen."

Chaffee improved to 4-0 with the win while Central fell to 3-2.

Central 000 000 0 -- 0 3 0

Chaffee 000 001 x -- 1 4 0 WP -- Cody Payne. LP -- Chase Hagerty.