Scott City pulls off another thriller

PIEDMONT — Scott City senior Ryan Modglin wonders why teams keep intentionally walking him in late-game situations, opting instead to pitch to cleanup hitter Cody Carlyle.

"Carlyle's hitting it every time they intentionally walk me," Modglin said. "There's no need to intentionally walk me if we're just going to score runs. Carlyle is one of the better hitters I've ever seen. He just puts the ball in play. Whenever we need a big hit, he just seems to come through."

Clearwater was leading 5-4 in the top of the seventh inning in Wednesday's Class 2 state quarterfinal when it opted to intentionally walk Modglin with the tying run at third base and two outs. The Tigers decided to take their chances with Carlyle.

Carlyle made them pay.

The senior smashed an RBI single to left field to tie the game. Scott City then scored two runs in the eighth inning to earn a 7-5 comeback win over Clearwater and advance to the state final four for the first time since 1990, when it tied for third place.

"It's great," sophomore Skylar Cobb said. "These last few games have been crazy. It's taken a lot out of us, but we're going to keep going until somebody stops us."

Carlyle went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. It was his second clutch hit in the past two games. He also smashed a grand slam in the eighth inning of a tied sectional game against Portageville on Monday to lead his team to victory. He said his game-tying single felt even better than the grand slam.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com The Scott City bench reacted as Austin Raines, right, headed for home with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning Wednesday during the Class 2 state quarterfinal against Clearwater in Piedmont.

"It felt great, just tying the game up," Carlyle said. "I thank everyone for getting on base to start that inning off. It felt way better than the grand slam."

Scott City pitcher Shae Simmons, who received treatment the past couple of days for a blister on his pitching hand, went all eight innings on the mound.

"It healed a lot over the past few days," Simmons said. "Actually, it was like a day and a half. I'd like to give a huge thanks to [trainer] Matt Holder for doing everything he could to make my finger heal up for today's game. ... I think that's the most pitches I've ever thrown."

Simmons said the blister didn't hurt much, only when he gripped the ball hard. The junior did struggle with his control at times. He walked five batters and also hit two batters. But Scott City coach Lance Amick said he felt confident with Simmons.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Scott City senior Cody Carlyle drove in the game-tying run with a single to left field Wednesday during the seventh inning of the Rams' Class 2 state quarterfinal against Clearwater in Piedmont.

"The kid wanted the ball," Amick said. "The kid's a warrior. He is [also] in basketball. I trusted him. Bottom line is that I knew he could get the job done. Just as long as he wanted the ball and he's always been honest with me when he didn't have it. ... But Shae wanted the ball.

"I made the decision I was going to lose with him on the mound after that last visit. He wanted the ball. I said, 'Do you think it's time to go to Josh [Henson]? It will be all right.' He said, 'I can do it.'"

Scott City is scheduled to play Hallsville in a Class 2 semifinal showdown Wednesday at Meador Park in Springfield.

"These kids, the last three games, it's just evident to how tough they are," Amick said. "These kids, it's important to them. They understand the history of our school. They understand that this is something that just doesn't happen every year."

Scott City junior Shae Simmons threw a complete game Wednesday.

Scott City jumped ahead early. Henson and Modglin walked with one out in the first inning. Henson scored on an RBI single to left field by Carlyle, and Modglin scored when Clayton Hall stroked an RBI single to right-center. The Rams took a 3-0 lead when the next batter, Austin Raines, hit a sacrifice fly to score Carlyle.

Clearwater came back with one run in the bottom half of the first. Kendall Fay singled to right field with two outs. The cleanup hitter and Tigers' starting pitcher, Jake Hime, who also tossed all eight innings, stroked a double to right-center to cut the deficit to 3-1.

The Tigers gained the lead with a four-run third inning. After Simmons retired the first two batters on strikeouts, he began to struggle with his control. He hit the third batter he faced and walked the next two to load the bases. A single and double by the next two hitters gave Clearwater a 4-3 edge. The Tigers tacked on another run to make it 5-3.

The score remained at 5-3 until the top of the seventh when Scott City came to the plate needing two runs in its last at-bat.

Clearwater second baseman Jordan Devenport waited to tag out Scott City basestealer Cody Carlyle.

Jacob Campbell worked a walk to start the inning. No. 9 hitter Cobb then came to the plate and fouled off the first pitch on a bunt attempt. Cobb was not bunting on his second try. He swung away and smashed a double to deep left-center to put two runners in scoring position with no one outs.

"Since [Clearwater] probably knew it [the bunt] was coming, coach probably wanted me to swing to see if I could get a pitch I could hit," Cobb said. "I got one I hit it in the gap. I hit it hard."

The next batter, Simmons, grounded out to second base. Campbell scored to cut the deficit to 5-3. Henson then grounded out to shortstop Fay, who was able to hold Cobb at third and fire to first to record the second out of the inning.

Modglin then was intentionally walked, and Carlyle came to the plate with runners at the corners and two outs.

"I kind of figured he was going to throw a curveball to me," Carlyle said. "I think I only got three or four fastballs all game. I was wanting to hit."

For the second straight game, Carlyle came up with a clutch hit, this time smashing a curveball to left field on a 1-1 offering from Hime.

After Carlyle's game-tying hit, Clearwater was able to elude any other trouble in the top half of the inning and entered the bottom of the seventh with the score tied 5-5.

"You come to expect it," Amick said of Carlyle. "If he wouldn't have performed the way he did, that would have shocked me. What he did didn't shock me."

Clearwater was able to load the bases with two outs in the seventh. But Simmons got Brandon Smith to ground out to shortstop to send the game into extra innings.

Scott City No. 6 hitter Raines led off the eighth with a double to right center.

"I just wanted a base hit," he said. "Something in the gap."

Raines then manufactured a run by stealing third. The thrown was offline, sailing into left field. Raines got up and sprinted home to help his team lead 6-5.

"I was real nervous," he said about getting the sign to steal third. "I was just nervous. I was on the dirt and coach Amick was telling me to get up. It was awesome."

Scott City added some insurance later that inning when Campbell and Simmons both doubled to make it 7-5.

Simmons came out for the eighth and finished the game. He got Logan Morris to strikeout on a high heater to end the game with two Clearwater runners in scoring position.

"[My arm] was getting fatigued, but I just wanted the ball," Simmons said. "It meant a lot to me."

Scott City 300 000 22 — 7 10 2

Clearwater 104 000 00 — 5 6 1

WP — Shae Simmons. LP — Jake Hime. 2B — Simmons (SC), Austin Raines (SC), Jacob Campbell (SC). Skylar Cobb (SC), Hime (C), Brandon Smith (C). Multiple hits — Clearwater: Hime 2-3, Kendall Fay 2-3; Scott City: Carlyle 3-4. Raines 2-4. Records — Scott City 21-1, Clearwater 16-5.