WEBB CITY, Mo. — Kaylor Darnell came through in the clutch for the Webb City Cardinals.
With his team trailing by a run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Darnell slapped a two-run single through the right side, propelling Webb City to a thrilling 3-2 walk-off win over the Republic Tigers on Thursday at Chuck Barnes Field.
Facing a 2-2 count with the bases loaded, Darnell was down his last strike before he delivered the game-ending hit.
“In my earlier at-bats, I was just barely missing his curveball,” Darnell said. “Going into that last at-bat, and with a 2-2 count, I knew a curveball was coming. I knew I just needed to stay on it and slap it to right.”
Darnell’s base hit into right put the finishing touches on a well-played game, and of course, it set off a celebration on the field for the hosts.
“It was awesome,” Darnell said of delivering a walk-off win. “I rounded first base and saw the second guy score. Then I saw my teammates running at me…I was trying not to get tackled. But it was awesome. It’s what baseball is all about.”
Webb City improved to 9-6 overall and 3-0 in the Central Ozark Conference after the come-from-behind win.
“Republic’s a really good team, so it’s always good to get a win over a good, quality team like them,” Webb City coach Andrew Doennig said. “Starting 3-0 in the conference is big. We know that no game in the COC is easy. We’ll take every one we can get.”
Webb City had defeated Republic 13-7 on April 1 at the Red and Blue Tournament.
The rematch featured a lot less offense, as Webb City’s Landon Fletcher and Republic’s Caide White allowed just six hits apiece in the classic pitcher’s duel.
The Cardinals pushed across a single tally in the bottom of the third. Senior center fielder Gage Chapman walked, went to second on a wild pitch and then sprinted home on junior second baseman Sam Weller’s run-scoring single into left field.
Republic tied it up in the fifth after two singles and a sacrifice fly from Collin Myers.
The score held up until the top of the seventh, when the Tigers plated the go-ahead run after Connor Sandridge doubled to left-center and later scored on Devon Hughes’ RBI single to center.
Down 2-1 as the bottom of the seventh arrived, Webb City’s first two batters of the inning were retired. With that, things weren’t looking good for the hosts.
But the Cardinals rallied. Senior shortstop Cy Darnell singled to right before Weller reached on the game’s lone error and junior catcher Shaun Hunt drew a walk to load the bases.
With the tying run at third, and the winning run at second, that’s when Kaylor Darnell came up big, sending the hosts and their fans home happy.
“You just have to put the ball in play and see if you can make something happen,” Doennig said of the late-game scenario. “We’ve been in that situation a couple of times this year, and we couldn’t get the guy in to win it. So it was a great job by Kaylor. He’s a patient kid. He put the ball in play and drove in those runs.”
A sophomore right-hander, Fletcher earned the pitching victory. He scattered six hits, walked none and struck out nine in a masterful performance on the mound.
“He just pounds the strike zone,” Doennig said. “That’s what we’ve seen from him all season. He doesn’t walk guys. They didn’t get a hit against him until the fifth on a chopper over his head. It was just a great job by him.
“We pitched it well and played good defense today,” Doennig added. “When you do that, you’re always going to have a chance to win.”
Republic’s White took the loss, but only allowed one earned run on six hits and three walks while striking out eight.
Webb City junior right fielder Drew Vonder Haar went 2-for-3 at the plate and was the lone Cardinal to have multiple hits.
The Tigers, who were coming off a 15-5 win over Willard on Tuesday, fell to 7-7 overall and 1-1 in the COC.
Webb City hosts Hillcrest at 4:30 on Friday for a non-conference clash.
FULL STATS: Webb City HS (webbcitycardinals.com)
