Webb City gets by Tigers in LaRoche title game

Fort Scott finished second in the Adam LaRoche Tournament at Dave Regan Stadium Saturday following a 3-2 loss to Webb City, Mo., in the championship game. The Cardinals scored twice in the top of the sixth inning to secure the win.

The eight-team tournament, which underwent several scheduling changes in order to make sure the participating teams got to play at least twice, resumed on Saturday with Fort Scott and Olathe West finishing up a semifinal game that was stopped on Thursday night. The game resumed in the top of the fifth inning with the Tigers holding an 8-4 lead (everything that happened prior to the stoppage was covered in Saturday’s edition).

Fort Scott (3-3) outscored the Owls 5-1 in the rest of the game as Olathe West left 5 runnners stranded. Ty Gorman took over as the pitcher and allowed 1 run on 3 hits and a walk over the final 3 innings while striking out 3. As he pitched three innings and was able to retain the lead, he earned a save for Chander Defebaugh (1-0), who pitched the first 4 innings on Thursday.

The Tigers, the designated visitor, scored twice in the bottom of the fifth inning when Alec Michaud doubled in Gage Wilson and Ivan Witt. They added three in the top of the seventh as they batted around starting with Matt Campbell’s leadoff single to right. Brady Masters singled to sort right and both runners executed a double steal. Defebaugh plated both runners with a single, then moved up on a groundout. After Witt drew a one-out walk and Bowles drew a 2-out free pass, Gorman drove Defebaugh home with another single.

Gorman was also 3 for 6 at the plate for the Tigers. Michaud was 3 for 4 while Campbell went 3 for 5, Masters 2 for 5 and Defebaugh 2 for 4.

Olathe West went to the third-place game, where they defeated Blue Valley North, 3-2.

Fort Scott, the home team in the final, scored runs in each of the first two innings. Michaud led off the bottom of the first with a single, advanced to third on Gorman’s single, and scored when the Cardinals’ catcher was unable to hold on to a wild third strike.

In the second, Wilson hit a leadoff single, moved up on a one-out single by Bowles and scored on Michaud’s sacrifice fly.

Although the Tigers’ first four batters of the game reached base and they also got two on the second, Webb City pitcher Matt Duley was able to keep his team in it with his arm. He struck out four batters in the top of the first, in part because of that dropped third strike, and that helped get him out of the inning as they were to consecutive batters. He finished the game with 15 strikeouts and didn’t walk anyone.

Webb City (11-2) got its first run in the top of the third when Bruson Matthews drove in Manuel Peskar, who had singled leading off the inning and stole second. But Tiger pitcher Kieran Houlihan was able to keep the Cards in check for the first five innings, getting seven consecutive outs from the third to fifth innings. The Tigers also turned a 6-3 double play behind him after Peskar got a single leading off the sixth.

But then Cade Benson drew a walk for the Cardinals and Blake Smith went in to pinch run. Duley helped himself out with an RBI double to deep left field. Will Larson’s single scored Duley with the go-ahead run.

Campbell hit a one-out single in the bottom of the sixth, stole second and moved up to third on a passed ball. Defebaugh was hit by a pitch with 2 out but Duley’s 14th strikeout ended the inning.

Zach Biastock doubled with one out in the top of the seventh for Webb City, prompting Fort Scott head coach Josh Regan to change pitchers. He brought Drake LaRoche in and the sophomore struck out Alex Gaskill looking for the first out. LaRoche then hit Peskar with a pitch but got Matthews to pop out to short to end the inning.

The only question for Duley as the bottom of the seventh began was if he would be allowed to finish the game. He had thrown 90 pitches through six innings and new rules imposed by national high school authorities before last season imposed a 105-pitch limit for each pitcher in a single game.

Michaud was hit by a pitch with 2 outs and stole second. However, Duley’s 105th pitch was a pop-fly out to shortstop that ended the game.

Michaud and Campbell were named to the All-Tournament team for the Tigers as were Benson and Duley for Webb City, Jack Albright for Blue Valley North and Owen Lamar for Ottawa.

The seventh-place game between Kansas City-Piper and Tonganoxie was not played. They will play each other in another game later this season. The fifth-place game between Grove, Okla., and Ottawa was cancelled as inclement weather, including snow and ice, hit Grove in the early-morning hours making early-morning travel questionable.

Fort Scott played at Parsons in a Southeast Kansas League doubleheader Tuesday and will play a single game at Chanute on Thursday. Those games will be summarized in Saturday’s edition.

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Thursday’s Games

Olathe West 6, Ottawa 3

Fort Scott 13, Tonganoxie 3

Ottawa 9, Tonganoxie 0

Fort Scott vs. Olathe West, susp.

Friday’s Games

Webb City, Mo. 4, Kansas City-Piper 2

Blue Valley North 7, Grove, Okla. 1

Grove, Okla. 5, Kansas City-Piper 3

Webb City, Mo. 4, Blue Valley North 1

Saturday’s Games

Tonanoxie vs. Kansas City-Piper, ppd., to be played at a later date (7th)

Ottawa vs. Grove, Okla., ccd. (5th)

Fort Scott 13, Olathe West 5, completion of susp. game

Olathe West 3, Blue Valley North 2 (3rd)

Webb City, Mo. 3, Fort Scott 2 (1st)

Semifinal

Fort Scott.......................... 120 502 3 — 13 16 2

Olathe West...................... 103 000 1 — 5 9 4

WP — Defebaugh (1-0). LP — Connell. Sv. — Gorman (1).

HR — None.

Third-place game

Blue Valley North........... 000 200 0 — 2 1 2

Olathe West...................... 030 000 x — 3 6 0

WP — Ponce. LP — Zenitsky.

HR — None.

Championship

Webb City, Mo.................. 001 002 0 — 3 7 1

Fort Scott........................... 110 000 0 — 2 5 2

WP — Duley. LP — Houlihan (0-1).

HR — None.