Tribe wins Bootheel Conference tourney

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Logan Dollins (center) is congratulated by his teammates after getting the game-winning hit in the Indians' 6-5 win over Senath-Hornersville in the championship game of the Bootheel Conference Tournament Tuesday at Senath. [Click to enlarge]

That never-say-die perseverance paid off in a big way, as the Tribe rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning to take a 6-5 victory over the Senath-Hornersville Lions in the championship game of the Bootheel Conference here Tuesday.

"I'm extremely proud of our guys," Kennett coach Aaron New said. "We lost the lead there in the last inning, made a mistake and we lost the lead. But the thing I saw today that I really liked from our guys was I didn't see any quit.

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Senath-Hornersville's Heath Horvath delivers a pitch against Kennett during the championship game of the Bootheel Conference Tournament Tuesday at Senath. [Click to enlarge]

"There's been times in the past couple of years that we've kind of hung our heads and lost a game like that. But we showed some maturity, we hung in there and came through with a big hit there at the end."

Andy Lack and Billy Fender led off the bottom of the seventh with walks, then Alex Bohnert laid down a two-strike sacrifice bunt to move Lack and Fender into scoring position.

Adam Grantham's sacrifice fly to right sent Lack home with the tying run, then Logan Dollins got hold of a 3-2 pitch and sent it to left to plate Fender and clinch the title.

"(Logan) got a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it," said New. "But a lot of things sometimes people don't remember is Alex Bohnert there had two strikes on him and got the bunt down that got the runner to third and put the other runner in scoring position."

The Lions (14-6) took the lead in unorthodox fashion in the top of the seventh inning, as Exon Moncada reached on a two-out infield hit, went to second on a wild pitch, stole third then came home on a delayed steal to put Senath-Hornersville up 5-4.

Kennett (10-8) held the Lions relatively in check at the plate, allowing just two hits, but Senath-Hornersville capitalized on five errors and half a dozen walks to put up four unearned runs.

"(Starting pitcher) Trey (Bazzell) pitched a pretty good ballgame," New said. "He probably got a little bit tired at the end and we tried to see if he could finish it and he just couldn't. ... You can't say enough about what Andy did coming in the game there and closing the door."

Lack earned the win, allowing one run and one hit in 1 2/3 innings of relief to lift Kennett to the title.

The Lions got on the board early, as Lincoln Tansil came home when Heath Horvath's bunt was misplayed in the top of the first inning to make it 1-0, then Matt Fouts scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.

Kennett answered back in the bottom of the second inning as Clayton Gibbons singled to left to drive home Austin Jackson, then Gibbons tied the game at 2-2 on Bazzell's groundball.

The Indians took the lead in the bottom of the third when Grantham singled home Fender with one out to make it 3-2.

"Adam had a really good day, but I thought up and down the lineup we had some balance," said New. "We had a couple of guys that came through with big hits when we needed them. ... I'm happy with what our offense did today."

Senath-Hornersville tied the game in the top of the fourth inning when Moncada reached on an error and scored on a wild pitch, but the Tribe retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth when Lack doubled to lead off the frame and later scored on Cameron Wallace's sac fly.

Overall, Kennett had five sacrifices -- two flyball RBIs and three bunts -- on the day.

"We had a bunch of clutch hits and a bunch of people getting sacrifice bunts," Bazzell said.

The Lions then tied the game again in the top of the sixth inning when Ben Salas drew a bases-loaded walk, but Lack came in and struck out the last two batters of the frame to keep the game close.

"Trey finally pulled through and we got a few hits here and there," said Dollins. "We battled away as long as we could and finally came out with a victory. That's all that matters."