Photo courtesy of Mark Smith The Kennett Indians junor high baseball team just completed its second straight undefeated season and won its third straight Bootheel Conference title. The junior Tribe has won 32 games in a row and several alumni from that streak are starting on the Kennett High School varsity baseball team this spring. [Click to enlarge]

The junior Tribe just wrapped up its third straight Bootheel Conference Tournament title with a 13-2 win over Portageville Wednesday in the tourney finals at Portageville.

With the victory, Kennett also capped its second straight undefeated season and is on a 32-game winning streak dating back to 2006.

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett pitcher Thomas Stillman is one of several members of the varsity baseball team that has been a part of the Kennett junior high team's success over the last three seasons [Click to enlarge]

Last season's junior high team turned in a dominating performance from wire-to-wire, not only going undefeated to repeat as Bootheel Conference champions but winning every game by at least nine runs.

This season's junior Tribe was not quite that dominant, but still ran the table and brought home another Bootheel Conference regular-season and tournament crown. In the conference tournament, Kennett outscored its two opponents by a combined 35-3.

The junior high's recent success is starting to pay dividends on the varsity level as well.

Several key members of this year's varsity Indians were also on the junior high roster the last two seasons before moving up to high school.

Starting catcher Billy Fender played on the 2006 team, as did lefthanded pitcher/first baseman/outfielder Trey Bazzell and first baseman/designated hitter Gage Blue.

Meanwhile, outfielder Cameron Wallace, infielder Andy Lack and pitcher Thomas Stillman were members of both the 2006 and 2007 teams. Wallace and Lack also pitch for the Tribe.

All six of them have been a major part of the Indians' success this season.

Fender has one of the area's best arms behind the plate, while Wallace and Lack have cracked the Tribe's starting lineup as freshmen and Wallace has ended up as the team's leadoff hitter. Meanwhile, Blue has provided solid hitting in the middle of the lineup and had a three-run, go-ahead double to lift Kennett to an extra-inning win at Chaffee on Thursday.

Meanwhile Bazzell and Stillman have emerged as mainstays of the rotation. Bazzell was an All-Daily Dunklin Democrat selection last season as a freshman, while Stillman has provided a lift to the Kennett rotation as a freshman this year, including six shutout innings against Sikeston last month.

With just three seniors on this year's varsity team -- and three years worth of conference champions streaming into the program -- the future looks bright for Kennett baseball.

Softball keeps rolling: In a spring to remember, the Kennett Lady Indians softball team may have had its best stretch of the season last week.

The Lady Tribe won all five of its games last week by a score of 59-4, including 12-0 shutouts of then-undefeated South Pemiscot and of Holcomb, which had won the Tri-County Conference Tournament the previous week and had just one loss before Thursday's game.

Kennett enters this week's Bootheel Conference Tournament at Caruthersville as the No. 1 seed and will face either Portageville or Caruthersville on Tuesday in the semifinals. If the Lady Indians win, they will play for the championship on Thursday, most likely against either South Pemiscot or Senath-Hornersville.

Mike Buhler is the sports editor of the Daily Dunklin Democrat. Contact him at mbuhler@dddnews.com