July 17, 2014
Relaxed Fighting Squirrels edge Boonville 3-1 for seventh state title in eight years
CHARLESTON, Mo. - After enjoying his first shave in several months following a 9-3 loss to Boonville in Game 26 of the double-elimination Senior Babe Ruth state tournament Tuesday night Charleston Fighting Squirrels coach Michael Minner put serious thought into who should pitch Wednesday night's winner-take-all state championship...
Note: A photo gallery of Wednesday's state championship is available at this link: View Photos Here
Editor's Note: This story and photos of Wednesday's state championship will be available in the next print edition of Dexter Daily Statesman on Friday morning.
CHARLESTON, Mo. - After enjoying his first shave in several months following a 9-3 loss to Boonville in Game 26 of the double-elimination Senior Babe Ruth state tournament Tuesday night, Charleston Fighting Squirrels coach Michael Minner put serious thought into who should pitch Wednesday night's winner-take-all state championship.
"When I talked to you guys last night we had [pitching] options and Cody Payne's name wasn't even brought up," Minner said. "I got home last night and got to thinking about things. I called Cody about midnight last night and we talked. I made the decision last night we were going to go with him and hopefully he could give us a quality start and that would make our bullpen stronger if we could get a start out of someone who was fresh."
2014 Chaffee graduate Cody Payne, who entered the state tournament with a 2-1 record and a 1.27 ERA in 22 innings pitched, said he learned of Minner's final decision to hand him the ball Wednesday morning at an 11 a.m. team lunch.
"I knew coach had confidence in me and everyone else had confidence in me," Payne said. "All that was left to do was just go out and do it."
Payne helped Charleston win its seventh state title in eight seasons a few hours later by holding a high-powered Boonville offense to just one hit.
Charleston tallied all three of its runs in the bottom of the third inning and escaped with a 3-1 victory against Boonville.
"Cody Payne was tremendous today," Minner said. "He was the difference in the ball game. Boonville was probably the best hitting team down here. They showed it all week. What a remarkable performance by him to step in and not give up a hit until the seventh."
Payne kept a no-hitter going until Jady Reece collected a two-out RBI double in the top of the seventh inning that drove home Trever Huth, who reached base on a two-out walk.
The game ended a few minutes later when Payne got the next hitter Travis Rion to ground out to shortstop Tim Fox.
Payne struck out six and walked three in seven innings pitched.
"My knuckleball, fastball, curveball and slider were working," Payne said. "It's easy to keep kids off balance when you've got four pitches you can put in the zone."
Boonville starting pitcher Chase Snapp more than matched Payne in his first two innings of work. Snapp retired the first six hitters he faced before Colton Hampton collected a leadoff single in the bottom of the third inning.
Disaster followed shortly after for the Boonville infield when Charleston's next two hitters - Jason Mattison and Ty Householder - reached base on bunts that were not fielded cleanly by infielders to load the bases with nobody out.
Leadoff hitter Brad Potts, a Dexter graduate, followed with a 2 RBI single to give Charleston a 2-0 lead.
"I was just looking for a good pitch to hit," Potts said. "He was around the zone. I finally found one I wanted and got a hit."
Fox, who recently graduated from Bloomfield, followed with a bunt single to load the bases again with nobody out and chase Snapp from the hill.
Boonville reliever Josh Judd, who earned a complete-game victory against Charleston Tuesday night, pitched the remainder of Wednesday's game.
Judd got the first hitter he faced, Luke Haines, to ground into a double play with the bases loaded and nobody out. A runner from third scored on the ground out to pad Charleston's lead to the final score.
"We got a base hit to leadoff the inning," Minner said, when asked to explain the three-run third. "Then we could play our game. It's no secret what our game is. We are going to bunt and we are going to run. We bunted and they botched a bunt coverage. Now we've got first and second, so it's still a bunt situation. We were going to bunt them to second and third and they botched another one, which gave us bases loaded and nobody out with the top of the order up.
"Brad Potts came through like he has all season in the clutch," Minner continued. "He drives in two. That took the pressure off of us. Then we hit into a double play after they made a pitching change, but at that point the way Cody was throwing, we'll take the double play for an insurance run."
Minner said his players spent the day preparing for the biggest game of the season in a relaxed setting.
"I thought we came out very loose today," Minner said. "We called the kids last night and had a team lunch today. We went down and shot some pool, threw some darts and kind of got them loosened up. Then we came here and played some two-ball in the outfield and kind of had a little fun. We didn't even realize it was game time when it was five o'clock and time to take infield.
"With kids, you just never know how they are going to react," Minner added. "Last night they probably didn't react how we would like them to, but today was a perfect example of they were free and easy."
Charleston improves to 35-16 with the victory and Boonville drops to 24-4.
It is the second straight season Charleston has beat Boonville in the state title game and fourth straight year the Fighting Squirrels have won the state title.
"This was probably the toughest competition," Minner, who has coached the Fighting Squirrels for the last decade, said of the 2014 tournament. "There were probably seven legit teams here that could win it. The pitching was great. There are some teams that sometime come that have a legit chance of screwing up your chance to win it, but there were teams here with a legit chance of winning five or six in a row."
Charleston qualifies for the Midwest Plains Regional with the victory. The double-elimination tournament is slated for July 23-28 in Dickinson, N.D.
"This will be our eighth straight regional," Minner said. "These are unique opportunities for the kids. We've got a great group of kids. These are lifetime memories. These kids will form bonds they will remember the rest of their lives. In 20 years they will be talking about something stupid that happened in North Dakota and hopefully it also involves someone hitting a gap shot that scored the winning run, someone throwing a no-hitter or someone making a diving play."
Potts threw a no-hitter in last season's Midwest Plains Regional championship. Charleston beat Oskaloosa, Iowa, in last season's Midwest title game to advance to the World Series.
"These are great trips," Minner added. "They are trips I'll never forget. There is something that comes out of every regional. I remember something from every one of them. It's just a remarkable opportunity, and we are excited to still be playing."
Charleston 3, Boonville 1
BOON 000 000 1 -- 1 1 4
CHAR 003 000 0 -- 3 4 1
WP -- Cody Payne. LP -- Chase Snapp. 2B -- Jady Reece (B). Multiple hits -- Charleston: Brad Potts 2-3.
View complete tournament results below:
TOURNAMENT RESULTS
THURSDAY, JULY 10
Game 1: Leopold SEMO Pirates 3, Riverbend Ducks 2
Game 2: Poplar Bluff 6, SEMO Strokers of Advance 1
Game 3: Piedmont Riverdogs 15, East Prairie 5 (5 Innings)
Game 4: Portageville Bulldogs 19, vs. Senath-Hornersville 4 (5 Innings)
Game 5: Charleston Fighting Squirrels 13, Arch City 3 (6 Innings)
Game 6: Potosi 6, Jackson 3
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FRIDAY, JULY 11
Game 7: Leopold SEMO Pirates 13, Leadwood 0 (5 Innings)
Game 8: Piedmont 4, Poplar Bluff 2 (10 Innings)
Game 9: Charleston 7, Portageville 3
Game 10: Boonville 9, Potosi 5
Game 11: Senath-Hornersville 12, Arch City 2 (5 Innings)
Game 12: SEMO Strokers of Advance 16, East Prairie 0
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SATURDAY, JULY 12
Game 13:Poplar Bluff 8, Jackson 4
Game 14: Portageville 5, Riverbend 0
Game 15: Leadwood 12, Senath-Hornersville 2 (5 Innings)
Game 16: Potosi 5, SEMO Strokers of Advance 2
Game 17: SEMO Pirates of Leopold 6, Piedmont 5
Game 18: Charleston 9, Boonville 5
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SUNDAY, JULY 13
Game 19: Poplar Bluff 10, Leadwood 4
Game 20: Potosi 7, Portageville 6
Game 21: Charleston 6, SEMO Pirates of Leopold 5
Game 22: Potosi 6, Piedmont 3
Game 23: Boonville 7, Poplar Bluff 6
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MONDAY, JULY 14
Game 24: Boonville 11, vs. Potosi 1
Game 25: Leopold vs. Boonville, 8 p.m. (POSTPONED)
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TUESDAY, JULY 15
Game 25: Boonville 4, Leopold 1
Game 26: Boonville 9, Charleston 3
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 16
Game 27: Charleston 3, Boonville 1
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