BASEBALL
CARL JUNCTION 8, FRONTENAC 1
CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — Carl Junction baseball’s offense did most of its damage in the middle innings while Alex Baker was strong on the mound in the Bulldogs’ win over Frontenac on Thursday at Joe Becker Stadium.
Baker earned the win after pitching five shutout innings, scattering three hits, walking one and striking out six. Drew Beyer allowed one unearned run in two innings. He allowed one hit, walked four and struck out three.
Colin McCartney took the loss after allowing two runs on one hit, three walks and three strikeouts in three innings. Clay Jameson allowed five runs on four hits and four walks in 1 1/3 innings, while Mario Menghini gave up one run on one hit and three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings.
The Bulldogs (6-2) broke the scoreless tie with two runs in the third inning before Carson Johnson drew a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded in the fourth to force home a run and give CJ a 3-0 lead. Carl Junction scored its first run of the four-run fifth when Brendyn Downs brought home Noah Southern with an RBI groundout. Back to back walks with the bases loaded later in the inning pushed the lead to six before Johnston scored on a wild pitch to wrap the scoring. The Bulldogs added a run in the sixth before Frontenac broke through with a run in the seventh.
Southern had two hits and scored twice to lead CJ, while Johnson, who doubled, Baker, Dylan Eck and Jordan Woodruff all had hits.
Kaston Fields, Jeremy Raio, Bree Cleeland and McCartney all had hits for Frontenac.
SPRINGFIELD CATHOLIC 8, WEBB CITY 5
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Caden Davis launched a three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh to earn the win while handing Webb City its first loss of the season on Thursday.
The Cardinals (5-1) rallied from a 5-2 deficit with three runs of their own in the seventh. With a run already in, Shane Noel singled home Treghan Parker to cut the lead to 5-4 before an RBI single up the middle by Eli Goddard to score Noel tied the game at 5-5.
After a groundout to start the bottom of the seventh, Hans Kaiser reached on a dropped third strike before Jeremy Rader walked, setting up Davis’ home run.
Rader started and took a no-decision after allowing two runs, one earned, on seven hits, two walks and five strikeouts over five innings. Danny White earned the win in relief after allowing three runs on three hits, a walk and three strikeouts in two innings.
Cole Gayman started and took a no-decision after giving up five runs, two earned, on five hits, two walks and seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. Cooper Crouch took the loss after allowing three runs on one hit, a walk and two strikeouts in one relief inning.
Noel led Webb City with three hits, including a triple, two runs and two RBI. Devrin Weathers added two hits.
MCDONALD COUNTY 5, CARTHAGE 4
ANDERSON, Mo. — McDonald County scored the lone run of the first inning before matching Carthage the rest of the way to earn the win.
Cross Dowd brought home Cole Martin with a sacrifice fly to right field in the first inning to give the Mustangs an early 1-0 lead.
From that point forward, the scoring on the scoreboard was a mirror image for both teams. Carthage (1-5) scored once in the top of the second, twice in the third and once in the sixth, but McDonald County answered with the same number of runs in the bottom half of each inning.
Logan Carmickle, Grant Collier, RyLee Barker and Sylas Browning all recorded hits for Carthage.
Martin doubled and had two hits while scoring twice to lead McDonald County. Ethan Lett had two hits, drove in one and scored a run.
COLLEGE HEIGHTS 10, VERONA 8
College Heights scored five early runs and then used a five-run fifth to earn the win at the Joplin Athletic Complex.
Kelton Welch, Nick Breggman and Lincoln Martin all had two hits apiece for the Cougars, with Breggman driving in three runs. Welch scored three times, while Rolen Sanderson and Breggman crossed the plate twice apiece.
Josh Allen and Ben Thomas all had RBIs for CHC.
Breggman went five innings on the mound, allowing six earned runs on nine hits while striking out six. Thomas pitched two scoreless innings.
Verona’s Jacob Stellwagen struck out seven in four innings, while Seth Freiburger allowed five runs, three earned, in two frames.
Alex Campbell and Sam Rees drove in two runs apiece for the Wildcats.
The Cougars (2-2) are at Purdy on Monday.
SOFTBALL
COLLEGE HEIGHTS 9, VERONA 0
Maddy Colin threw a gem and the College Heights offense started early and added on throughout in the win over Verona at the Joplin Athletic Complex.
Colin dazzled with her second no-hitter of the season. She struck out 15 batters and walked just two in seven innings.
College Heights (5-0, 2-0 Ozark 7) scored twice in the bottom of the first before taking control with a five-run third inning. The Cougars added a run in the fifth and sixth innings.
Jayli Johnson doubled twice on the way to a team-high three hits. She drove in one and scored one. Avery Good, Colin, Sarah Painter, Aaliyah Perez, Lauren Ukena and Ari Caldandro each had hits for College Heights.
