Young pitches ND to district crown

~ The Bulldogs collected their 25th victory in a 4-1 win against Kennett.

Notre Dame committed five errors on Tuesday, but it didn't prevent the top-ranked team in Class 3 from winning the District 1 title in Dexter.

Behind the two-hit pitching of junior Colton Young, the Bulldogs defeated Kennett 4-1 in the championship game.

Notre Dame improved to 25-1 and will host a sectional game at 5 p.m. Tuesday against today's winner between Potosi and Herculaneum.

"We've got some things to work on before next week," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said.

The Bulldogs struck for three runs in the third inning. Jake Pewitt lofted a sacrifice fly to bring home the first run. A Kennett error scored the second run, and Austin Greer capped the inning with a two-out RBI single.

Kennett scored an unearned run in the fourth, but Greer restored the three-run cushion in the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly that upped the lead to 4-1. Greer finished the game 2-for-2 with two RBIs.

Notre Dame committed back-to-back errors in the seventh inning that allowed Kennett to bring the tying run to the plate with one out. But Young notched his seventh and eighth strikeouts of the game to close out the Indians.

Young did not walk a batter in improving to 9-0 this season.

"He didn't have his best stuff today, but you wouldn't know it by his line," Graviett said. "He didn't have that real good fastball. They put ball in play and he had to pitch around errors. He really battled today and got it done on the mound."

Graviett said the Bulldogs had played good defense all year, with the exception of an six-error game against Poplar Bluff in the SEMO Conference tournament which resulted in Notre Dame's lone loss.

"Our pitcher found a way to pitch around it, but you want to be making plays this time of the year," Graviett said.

Class 3 District 1

Championship game

Notre Dame 4, Kennett 1

Kennett 000 100 0 -- 1 2 2

Notre Dame 003 010 x -- 4 6 5

WP -- Colton Young (9-0). LP -- Lack. 2B -- Jake Pewitt (ND). Mutliple Hits: Notre Dame -- Austin Greer 2-2, Aaron Tomaszewski 2-3. Records -- Notre Dame 25-1.