Red Sox fall to Willard in elimination game

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- "Tnghat week layoff kind of killed us, we kind of came out flat. I'm still proud of the boys."

Nevada Red Sox assistant coach Jason Irwin came out of Monday's game at Glendale High School with a degree of disappointment, but still holding his head high as what was a solidly competitive season came to an end Monday afternoon at the hands of Willard. In the second elimination game of the tournament, both teams came in needing a win to avoid going home empty and Willard came out on top of an intense contest by a final score of 7-5.

The Red Sox got off to a strong start offensively on the day as the first three hitters to face Willard starter Andrew Vanhooser were able to reach base. Kohlten Wilson knocked in the first run of the game with a line drive triple to deep center field that made it all the way to the wall, allowing Andy Yarick to score.

Wilson didn't stay on base long as Colby Shepherd followed with an RBI single to center just two pitches later, giving the Red Sox an early two-run advantage. Vanhooser never lost his composure, however, and was able to get three quick outs to end the inning with no further damage, taking the game into the top of the fifth with a 2-0 deficit.

Nevada starter Ron Johnson was able to keep the very potent Willard offense at bay for the first two innings as his strong movement and pitch variety kept hitters off balance and led to four of the first six outs coming on ground balls.

Willard was able to get to Johnson in the third and quickly erased Nevada's lead as Ryan Cook connected for a single to left field. An error by third baseman Ryan Austin was quickly followed by an RBI single to left by Devon Phillips to tie the game before the first out was recorded in the frame.

Three batters later, Bobby Hampton gave Willard their first lead of the game with an RBI sacrifice fly to center that brought home Phillips from third. The Red Sox defense made a quick recovery and was able to get out of the inning with no further damage, but not before Willard took a 3-2 lead heading to the home half of the frame.

Vanhooser gave the Red Sox an opportunity to come back and at least tie the game in the bottom of the third as he hit two Nevada batters, but was quickly able to extinguish the threat as Wilson was caught stealing and Austin Baldwin hit into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

From that point on, the game turned into an up-and-down offensive battle as Willard was able to put up single runs in each of the final four frames, starting with an RBI single by Richard Lewis in the fourth to make it 4-2.

That lead was extended to three runs in the fifth after a double to deep right center field allowed Justin Cobb to score. As the game neared its conclusion, Willard looked poised to put the contest away as they took a 6-2 lead into the home half of the fifth.

Nevertheless, the Red Sox refused to go down without a fight, earning one of those runs back in the home half of the frame on a single up the middle by Johnson that brought home Wilson for his second run of the day.

That brought Nevada to within three runs at 6-3 and seemingly back in the game, but Willard's offense never let up for the remainder of the game as they allowed the Red Sox to get within one run at 6-5 after a solo home run by Taylor Scotten in the bottom of the sixth, but never relinquished their lead. Willard added the final run of the contest on an RBI single to right by Ryan Cook to take the victory by a final score of 7-5.

"All these teams say, 'man, you came out of a tough district.' I'm not saying we're the best team here, we didn't look like it this weekend," Irwin said "But, we don't make errors, we win that ballgame."

With that loss, the Red Sox became the second of the five teams in the tournament to be eliminated and finished out the season with a record of 30-12 in AAA competition.

Warrensburg 5, Red Sox 1

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- After the first scheduled day of the American Legion Zone III tournament was postponed due to rain, the Nevada Red Sox AAA squad saw their first action at Glendale High School against a tough Warrensburg team.

The Red Sox offense just couldn't seem to get anything going against Warrensburg start Chris Pryor and were able to record just two hits in a 5-1 defeat. Errors seemed to be a major thorn in Nevada's side all day long as just one of Warrensburg's five runs was earned.

With that loss, the Red Sox were forced to attempt to make their way up through the entire loser's bracket in the hopes of making the state tournament.