Indians rout Bulldogs to advance to Bootheel final

STEELE, Mo -- You knew that even before the first pitch of the Bootheel Conference semifinal between South Pemiscot and Kennett was thrown, the gushing winds would play a factor. What we didn't know was that Kennett would take advantage of several South Pem mistakes, along with the ability to put on a hitting clinic that would give them the victory, 17-3. The win put the Indians in the Conference Championship, their second title game this week. It was the type of victory that sent a message to all the other teams in the conference that Kennett was the team to beat.

This game was actually close in the beginning. South Pem started the game on a high note when they were able to get one run on three hits off of Kennett pitcher Andy Lack in the first inning, but their scoring was stopped early when Kennett was able to turn an unusual double play by the centerfielder Cameron Wallace when he caught a pop-fly and then was able to throw out a South Pem runner trying to get back to second base. In the bottom half of the inning, Kennett was able to tie the game at 1-1 with an RBI single from Trey Bazzell. This would be one of Trey's many hits and RBI's in the ballgame.

The second inning would turn out to be the inning when the Indians lit up the scoreboard, and eventually clinch the ballgame. Lack was able to overcome a couple of two-out base hits by the Bulldogs in the top half of the inning and not allow a run to score. The bottom half of the inning was when Kennett put on that scoring clinic. The hits and runs were coming in non-stop as the Indians scored 11 runs on 10 hits with each batter batting at least once in the inning, with some guys batting twice. Seven of those hits were singles, with 5 of them producing runs. At one point in the inning, Kennett was able to run their hit streak to seven in a row. Wallace, Lack, Clayton Gibbons, Bazzell, Thomas Stillman, Daniel Lockhert and Andrew Hooper all contributed to the hitting and scoring in the second. Kennett was even able to score two runs off of wild pitches by South Pem. Eventually, after 15 batters had been to the plate, the Bulldogs were able to put a stop to this scoring madness, but not before the Indians had racked up a 12-1 lead heading into the third inning.

South Pem wasn't able to respond in the third or fourth innings as they went scoreless and only putting up two hits in the two innings. The Indians, however, put up five more runs in the in the fourth with an RBI base hit from Bazzell and a three-run RBI from Lockhert. Although Kennett gave him enough run support, it was Lack's effort on the mound that put to rest any type of South Pem comeback. Lack pitched all five inning for the Indians, giving up 3 runs on 11 hits, while striking out 5 Bulldog batters. The combination of Lack's outstanding pitching performance and the offense's ability to score 17 runs proved to be enough as the Indians won a spot in today's championship game. Kennett's Bazzell led all batters in the game, going 4-for-4 with 3 RBI's.

"All year, we've felt that through (batters) one through nine we've had balance and that's what has made us so strong defensively," said Kennett head coach Aaron New about how all the players contributed to the win. Coach New does express that the same type of effort would have to be given by his team if they want to bring the Bootheel Conference Championship to Kennett "I feel like we'll have to come up and do it again tomorrow. We'll have to come up here tomorrow and play a good team and give it all we got." The Indians will play for the Bootheel Conference title today at 3 p.m. They will take on the winner of the semifinal between Senath-Hornersville and Malden.