Slattery plays in all-star game for Missouri seniors

~ The recent Central graduate played for the East squad in Saturday's game.

Cape Central senior Blake Slattery was a stranger to most of his East teammates in the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association West-East Senior All-Star game Saturday night at T.R. Hughes Stadium in O'Fallon, Mo.

But the East manager, Tony Perkins of Francis Howell, knew about the Tigers standout.

"What an athlete," Perkins said of Slattery, who will be attending Mineral Area College in the fall. "I remember playing them in the regular season and he must have had a 20-pitch at-bat. Did you see the seed he hit tonight? I love to coach kids like Blake."

The "seed" that Perkins was referring to was a line-drive double over the left fielder's head in the eighth inning.

It was the second hit of the game for Slattery, and he came around to score his second run. It was not enough, though, for Slattery's squad as the West team scored four times in the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie. The West held on for an 8-5 victory.

"I think I played football against one of the kids on the team and a couple I played baseball against," said Slattery, who was the lone player from Southeast Missouri in the Class 4 game that featured Missouri's premier senior players. "It was nice to meet some new people and it was a lot of fun. I was a little nervous at the start of the game, but then I figured out that there was no reason to be nervous."

Slattery, batting third in the East lineup, also drew a walk and he flied out to right field.

Slattery was forced to play third base as several players who were originally named to the East squad, including Jackson's Luke Crader and Logan Lawson, were unable to play.

"I think the last time I played third base was in the seventh grade," said Slattery, who hit .471 with six home runs this spring with Central.

And the ball often finds players in unaccustomed positions. Slattery had a couple of errors at third base but he also made some nice plays, including the start of a double play.

The key play of the game also involved an East player who was out of position. Dylan Mooney of Francis Howell Central, who caught the majority of the game, was moved to second base late in the game. He committed a crucial error with two outs in the four-run eighth inning by the West.

"There were some mistakes made but also some great plays," Perkins said. "It is always a pleasure to see such a great group of athletes get together to play in a game like this."

Columbia Rock Bridge's Erik Darkow, who is headed to the University of Missouri, was named the Most Valuable Player of the game. He was on base three times, had a pair of hits, scored two runs and pitched a perfect ninth inning to record the save.