Jam masters: Tribe pitches around tough situations, 'Dogs to reach finals

Staff photos by Mike Buhler Kennett's Andy Lack (left) and Cameron Wallace (right) combined with Adam Grantham to shut out the South Pemiscot Bulldogs in the semifinals of the Bootheel Conference Tournament Wednesday at Steele. Wallace also had Kennett's only hit and scored the game's only run. [Click to enlarge]

STEELE, Mo. -- The Kennett Indians baseball team has arguably one of the best pitching staffs in all of southeast Missouri.

That was no more evident than it was Wednesday, as Adam Grantham, Andy Lack and Cameron Wallace combined to outduel South Pemiscot ace Tyler Thompson, leading the Tribe to a 1-0 victory over the Bulldogs in the semifinals of the Bootheel Conference Tournament.

With the win, Kennett (9-6) will face Senath-Hornersville (13-5) in the championship game this afternoon at 4 p.m. in Senath.

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Senath-Hornersville's Ben Salas delivers a pitch against Malden in the semifinals of the Bootheel Conference Tournament Wednesday at Steele. [Click to enlarge]

"Our pitching staff has done a good job all year job and they did an even better job today," Kennett coach Aaron New said. "We faced as good of a pitcher as we'll face in this area today. He pitched an outstanding game and our three guys pitched just as well as he did, so I'm extremely proud of our pitchers."

Kennett's hurlers got out of several jams, as the Bulldogs had the tying or go-ahead runs on in each of the final innings, yet failed to score. South Pem's best chance to get on the board came in the top of the fifth inning when Ryan Nolen led off the inning with a double, but was later thrown out at the plate.

"It just seemed like we couldn't catch a break either ..." South Pemiscot coach Aaron Burton said. "We just fell on the short end and they didn't."

It wasn't just the pitching, however. Catcher Billy Fender threw out three basestealers Wednesday, including two in the fourth inning to quell yet another rally.

The Tribe scored its only run -- and got its only hit -- in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, Bo Smith reached on an error, Wallace singled and Grantham was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Logan Dollins then grounded to third, enabling South Pem to force Smith out at home, but his strong slide forced a bang-bang play at first base that allowed Wallace to cross the plate.

"Bo made a great slide at home," Wallace said, "because you can't run in straight -- you have to slide in. I just read the ball going left of the first baseman; it took a bad hop and I just went home."

Said New: "Good day for Cameron. He came in, made some things happen on the bases and was able to get a run scored. Cameron had a nice day."

Lack earned the win in relief of Grantham, pitching 2 2/3 innings of relief, while Wallace got the final three outs to pick up the save.

"It feels great," said Wallace. "We really worked hard today -- we've been working hard all week. Coach has been talking about how we need to get back together and get ready for districts."

Thompson took the hard-luck loss, allowing one unearned run while striking out nine and hitting two batters. He retired the last 10 batters he face to keep the 'Dogs in the game until the end.

"It's tough as a pitcher right there to take that loss," Burton said. "But looking at the last time we played Kennett [an error-plagued 11-3 loss], I'll take this outing over (that one)."

With Wednesday's win, the Indians will be tying to win their first conference tourney title since 2006.

"Our kids are extremely excited," said New. "You don't get chances to win a championship every year. When you get those opportunities, you've got to be ready to take advantage of them. Senath's got a good pitching staff too (so) hopefully we'll swing the bats a little bit better than we did today and get a few more runs. But we're just excited to have a chance to play for a championship."

Tri-County Tourney
Holcomb shocks Camels, makes championship
At Holcomb, the sixth-seeded Hornets pulled off their second straight upset of the tourney, getting a complete game from senior Corbin Clark to shock the Camels.

Clark pitched out of several games, holding Campbell to 1-for-15 batting with runners in scoring position as the Camels stranded 13 runners.

Clark and McDaniel each had two hits for Holcomb.

The Hornets will face top-seeded Cooter for the title this afternoon. Cooter downed Risco 12-0 in the other semifinal Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, the Camels downed Clarkton 13-0 in a first-round game as Cale Weeks tossed a perfect game. Weeks struck out all but three of the batters that he faced.

Dillion Rice, Jake Nelson and Zack Jackson each had two hits, while Rice had three RBIs and Nelson added two.