WEBB CITY, Mo. — A timely hit never materialized for the Webb City Cardinals.
As a result, Webb City suffered a 2-0 loss to Springfield Catholic on a cold and windy Thursday at Barnes Field.
On an uncomfortable day to play, Webb City managed just four hits, and the Cardinals left six runners on-base.
“I thought our effort was great,” Cardinals coach Flave Darnell said. “I thought we had good swings in the box. I thought we were aggressive. I thought our pitchers did a great job and our defense did a good job. Their pitcher did a great job. They took advantage of a couple of our miscues and they got a couple of timely hits. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Ranked fifth in Class 5 by the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association, the Cardinals fell to 3-4 on the season. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak.
“We’ll keep getting better,” Darnell said. “There’s no doubt we’re playing better. We’ve got a lot of guys who haven’t got a lot of varsity time. We’re seeing a lot of good things out of them. We’re excited about our team.
“I think our non-conference schedule is really tough,” Darnell said. “Hopefully it prepares us for May. The goal is to be as good as we can be in May, so we’ll keep grinding.”
Ranked second in Class 3, Springfield Catholic improved to 3-3.
The two teams combined for just nine hits on a day with temperatures in the 30s.
Catholic pushed across a single tally in the fourth, as Ben Smith reached on a dropped third strike and later scored on Logan Ripper’s RBI groundout.
Webb City had runners tagged out on the basepaths in both the third and fourth innings. The Cardinals stranded a pair of runners in the sixth inning.
The Irish added a key insurance run in the seventh, as Jack Schoen was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Webb City brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh after Jeremiah Leaming singled with one out. But again, a clutch base hit never came for the Cardinals.
“We just couldn’t get the hit when we needed it,” Darnell said.
Junior right-hander Kaylor Darnell went 5 1/3 innings and allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out five in a tough-luck loss. Junior right-hander Walker Sweet tossed 1 2/3 innings of relief, giving up one run on two hits while striking out three.
Leaming had two of Webb City’s four hits, with Kenley Hood and William Hayes recording one hit apiece.
Catholic’s Weston Cline tossed a complete-game shutout. He struck out four and walked three.
“He was aggressive in the zone, kind of like our guys,” Coach Darnell said of Cline. “There were only nine hits on the day. He’s a good pitcher. He attacked us with fastballs.”
Smith, a Missouri recruit, had two hits for the Irish.
Webb City is at Parkview at noon on Friday in the Red & Blue Classic.
The Cardinals will play two games in the tournament on Saturday at Hillcrest, a 10 a.m. date with Hillcrest and a 3 p.m. contest against Rolla.
FULL STATS: Webb City HS (webbcitycardinals.com)
