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Lee's Summit, MO —
Lee’s Summit West senior Matt Hall continued his brilliance on the mound as he allowed one earned run and struck out nine Wildcats to lead the Titans to a 7-1 victory over Blue Springs Tuesday afternoon in the Class 4 District 14 championship at Lee’s Summit West High School.
The Wildcats managed to scratch out just the second earned run Hall has allowed all season, but a five-run first inning by the 24-5 Titans was simply too much for Blue Springs to overcome.
“That kid is a great pitcher,” Blue Springs coach Marc Hines said after his team wrapped up a 16-10 season. “He reminds you of the (Nick) Tepesch or (Kyle) Barbeck. When he gets in a little jam, he just takes it up a notch.
“I was proud of our guys. We didn’t give up, even after we were down 5-0 in the first inning, and we managed to avoid the shutout by scoring that run in the top of the seventh.”
Hot-hitting designated hitter Nick Dorman – who had two hits and four RBIs Monday in Blue Springs’ 6-4 semifinal win over Blue Springs South – had a single and opened the seventh with a double in the left-center field gap.
Matt Morrison followed with a single that sent Dorman to third base, and Bryan Stober’s infield out scored Dorman with the Wildcats’ lone run.
“I was mad in the seventh inning,” Dorman said. “I didn’t like the way they were over there dancing in their dugout. I wanted to hit the ball hard and see if we could get back in the game.
“At least we scored a run and didn’t get shutout.”
Hall, who is 7-0 with a sub-1.00 ERA, said the five-run first inning was like a gift.
“Before the game, I told the guys that if they scored one or two runs I’d do my best to make them stand,” Hall said. “The five runs were a gift. It was amazing to have a 5-0 lead in the first inning.”
Three of those runs came off the bat of catcher Matt Fultz, who touched starter Bryan Stober for a three-run homer over the 385-foot sign in center field.
“Matt’s been my best friend forever,” Hall said. “We started out on the same T-ball team when we were 4 or 5 and have been on the same team ever since.”
Fultz wasn’t finished with the first blast as he greeted reliever Bill Slivinski with a solo shot to the same spot in center field in the second inning.
Lee’s Summit West senior Matt Hall continued his brilliance on the mound as he allowed one earned run and struck out nine Wildcats to lead the Titans to a 7-1 victory over Blue Springs Tuesday afternoon in the Class 4 District 14 championship at Lee’s Summit West High School.
The Wildcats managed to scratch out just the second earned run Hall has allowed all season, but a five-run first inning by the 24-5 Titans was simply too much for Blue Springs to overcome.
“That kid is a great pitcher,” Blue Springs coach Marc Hines said after his team wrapped up a 16-10 season. “He reminds you of the (Nick) Tepesch or (Kyle) Barbeck. When he gets in a little jam, he just takes it up a notch.
“I was proud of our guys. We didn’t give up, even after we were down 5-0 in the first inning, and we managed to avoid the shutout by scoring that run in the top of the seventh.”
Hot-hitting designated hitter Nick Dorman – who had two hits and four RBIs Monday in Blue Springs’ 6-4 semifinal win over Blue Springs South – had a single and opened the seventh with a double in the left-center field gap.
Matt Morrison followed with a single that sent Dorman to third base, and Bryan Stober’s infield out scored Dorman with the Wildcats’ lone run.
“I was mad in the seventh inning,” Dorman said. “I didn’t like the way they were over there dancing in their dugout. I wanted to hit the ball hard and see if we could get back in the game.
“At least we scored a run and didn’t get shutout.”
Hall, who is 7-0 with a sub-1.00 ERA, said the five-run first inning was like a gift.
“Before the game, I told the guys that if they scored one or two runs I’d do my best to make them stand,” Hall said. “The five runs were a gift. It was amazing to have a 5-0 lead in the first inning.”
Three of those runs came off the bat of catcher Matt Fultz, who touched starter Bryan Stober for a three-run homer over the 385-foot sign in center field.
“Matt’s been my best friend forever,” Hall said. “We started out on the same T-ball team when we were 4 or 5 and have been on the same team ever since.”
Fultz wasn’t finished with the first blast as he greeted reliever Bill Slivinski with a solo shot to the same spot in center field in the second inning.
“Matt’s a special pitcher,” said West coach Jay Meyer, a former player and head coach from Truman High School. “Occasionally I have to go out on the mound to check and see if he has a pulse.
“His ERA is something like 0.004 – it’s ridiculous – and he has two no-hitters this season. When he went through the first four without allowing a hit I was thinking we might be seeing No. 3, but you have to give Blue Springs credit. Those kids battled until the final out of the game.
“It would have been easy to fold the tent and go home, but you could tell there was no quit in that team.”
Slivinski allowed just two runs in four innings and Taylor Cross pitched a scoreless sixth inning, with two strikeouts.
“Great relief pitching today from Bill and Taylor,” Hines said. “You’d like to wonder how the game might have gone if we hadn’t given up five in the first. But there’s nothing you can do about that. We have a great group of kids this season and it’s going to be hard to say goodbye to our seniors.”
