Tribe shuts out Lions

The Kennett Indians seem to just have the Senath-Hornersville Lions' number on the baseball diamond this spring.

For the second time this spring, the Tribe's pitchers shut down the Senath-Hornersville offense, as Trey Bazzell and Corey Henfling combined to hold the Lions to just one hit in a 4-0 win at Indian Park Tuesday.

"That's kind of been the way our pitching's been all year long," Kennett coach Aaron New said. "Trey and Corey did another good job for us today."

Bazzell and Henfling combined for eight strikeouts and allowed just two walks between them. Bazzell started and pitched four innings, while Henfling tossed the final three to earn the save.

"We didn't swing the bats today and we didn't pitch it well," Senath-Hornersville coach Randy Smith said. "Kennett's always a tough place to play. It seems like when we come here we don't play very well."

The Indians (11-8) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Billy Fender singled to rightfield to drive home courtesy runner Andrew Hooper after Hooper stole second base.

In the bottom of the third, Payte Harris singled to drive home Cameron Wallace to make it 2-0, then Harris scored on Austin Jackson's double to push the lead to 3-0.

"Austin's struggled a little bit of late," said New. "It was good to see him break out and have a couple of hits for us today."

Kennett capped the scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning when Thomas Stillman scored on a dropped popup.

Heath Horvath started and took the loss for the Lions, allowing all four runs (three earned) on five hits and four walks in four innings of work before Dustin Hunter came in and finished up.

"Senath threw two of the better pitchers in the area against us today," New said. "Our guys battled hard and came up with big hits when we needed them."

Jackson was 2-for-4 to pace the Indians, while Wallace, Harris, Shane Branum, Fender, Stillman and Andy Lack had a hit apiece.

Senath-Hornersville plays its last game before districts Thursday at Holcomb, while Kennett is slated to play at Dexter today before closing out the regular season Thursday at home against Kelly.

"This time of the year, we just need to go play well," said New. "We've played a lot better the last couple of games. Hopefully we'll continue on until next week."

Notes: Earlier in the season, Jackson no-hit the Lions in a 1-0 game at Senath. ... Ben Salas had Senath-Hornersville's lone hit, a leadoff single to right in the top of the fourth inning. ... Bazzell's five strikeouts Tuesday gave him the team lead in that category. ... Horvath and Hunter have each hit five home runs this spring.

Cooter 12, North Pemiscot 2
At Wardell, the visiting Wildcats took an 8-1 lead in the third inning and never looked back against the Mustangs.

Cooter (17-2) pounded out 12 hits as Zach Watkins, Aaron McCaig, Nick Rinks and Jonathan Boone each had a pair of hits.

Boone picked up the win, striking out five and allowing four hits and two runs in four innings of work.

Campbell 8, Caruthersville 4
At Caruthersville, the Camels scored five times in the top of the second inning and held on for their 13th win of the season.

Campbell (13-5) had just five hits but drew seven walks and got a pair of RBIs from Kyle Matthews.

Joe Campbell pitched all seven innings for the victory, allowing six hits and two earned runs.

Softball
NMCC 3, Holcomb 1
At New Madrid, Kelly Robey had 13 strikeouts to outduel Holcomb's Jenna McKuin and pitch the Lady Eagles past Holcomb.

Holcomb hosts Bernie in the season finale Thursday.

Bootheel Conference Tournament
Kennett 16, Caruthersville 0
At Caruthersville, the Lady Tribe scored at least three runs in every inning and got a no-hitter from Laurel Scales to reach the championship game for the second year in a row.

"I am very pleased with the effort of our girls," Kennett coach Laurie Vaughan said. "They continue to go to the plate aggressively as well as run the bases well. We are right where we want to be going into the championship game."

Taylor Wake was 3-for-3 with four runs scored and three stolen bases to pace the Lady Tribe (12-0), while Ciara Dewrock had a pair of hits and drove in three runs and Allyson Luce added a double and a triple while stealing two bases.

The Lady Indians will take on No. 3 seed Senath-Hornersville for the title on Thursday. The Lady Lions upset No. 2 South Pemiscot 11-10 Tuesday afternoon.

"I am looking forward to our game Thursday against Senath," said Vaughan. "They really played well against South Pemiscot and it looks to be a good match up for the conference tournament title."