Local ball club heads to state

Submitted Photo The Midwest Athletics baseball players hold their trophies after taking first place in a regional tournament held in Lee Summit. The group includes players from all over the Southwest Missouri and Southeast Kansas area including players from Fort Scott, Nevada and Lamar. Front row from left: Jacob Durossette, Lane Ketterman, Easton Mitchell, Brett Norton and Cole Sanderson. Second row: Clayton Hixon, Grant Wolfe, Zach Denton, Alex Payne and Derek Nagel. Back row: Coaches Matt Ketterman, Marty Nagel, B.G. Wolfe and Doug Sanderson.

Special to the Herald-Tribune

The Midwest Athletics Baseball Club, with players from Nevada, Fort Scott and Lamar, traveled to Lee's Summit, Mo., the weekend of May 9-11, to play in a tournament. The club won its first game on Friday. Saturday, however, was a different story. The team built a 5-0 lead in its first game, but somewhere in the fourth inning everything fell apart and just didn't come back together, resulting in a loss. The second game went much the same with another loss.

Despite the losses, the team managed to slip into the bracket as the last seed. The team fared much better on Sunday as they managed to claw their way back up from the bottom with back-to-back wins to clinch the championship trophy. Along with first place comes a qualifying position for the state tournament.

Prior to the tournament in Lee's Summit, the boys captured first place at Lebanon, Mo., and second place in Nevada. The team is scheduled to travel to Blue Valley, Kan., Bentonville, Ark., Branson, Mo., Joplin, and then back to Lee's Summit for the State Tournament.