In the final game of the Willard Lead-Off Baseball Tournament, the Tigers defended their home field against the Bulldogs of Carl Junction. Willard plated six runs and was able to pitch a shutout.
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Senior pitcher Kyle Smith hurled six innings with seven strikeouts, three walks and five hits allowed, all while keeping Carl Junction off the scoreboard. Smith also went 2-2 with a walk at the plate.
“Our pitching has been good all year,” said Willard head coach Scott MgGee. “Kyle had maybe his best performance of the season. He’s thrown really well every time out. I feel like Carl Junction is a very good team. I think they have a chance to make it to the Final Four in Class 4. For Kyle to come out and pitch as well as he did I think speaks volumes about his potential for us this season and at the next level as well.”
“I had good defense behind me,” Smith said. “I started off a little wild but by about the fourth inning I kind of got locked in. And after that, they made great plays behind me and I was just mixing up pitches. It was a good night.”
Dalton Morrow carried the load at the plate for Willard. Morrow knocked in three of the team’s six runs going 3-4 with two doubles and a triple. The Tigers were able to scratch across runs despite battling harsh wind blowing straight in from center field for most of the game.
“[Carl Junction] hit some balls that, if this wind is not blowing, they might fall,” said Smith. “This was just a good win. We played good defense, good offense that produced six runs under tough conditions with the wind, and it was just a good baseball game.”
Willard picks up this win after dropping their first two tournament games against Marquette and Aurora earlier in the week. But they rallied on Saturday, beating Pattonville 7-2 and then shutting out Carl Junction in the night cap. The Bulldogs struggled in the tournament, losing all four of their games over the weekend.
“This tournament has really kind of taken off in the quality of competition that it has,” said Coach MgGee. “You just look at the pitchers that were in this tournament, from Marquette to Pattonville, Republic, Carl Junction, Webb City, I mean there’re just a lot of good teams… It really just allows you to come out and see really good pitching, and pitchers get to see really good lineups right before your games really start to matter.”
Willard and Carl Junction will use this tournament to prepare for the months ahead, especially once the district and state tournaments come around in May. Carl Junction made it to the Class 4 quarterfinals last year before falling to Sullivan. Willard lost to Waynesville in their district title game last year.
“Every year our goal is to win the district championship,” MgGee said. “We’ve played for it five straight years and we’ve won three of them. We kind of feel like if we can win the district championship, then all you have to do is find a way to play well for fourteen innings and you’re in the Final Four. We’ve always played well late in the season and so that’s always our goal to win the district championship.”
“It’s a one-game deal and in baseball anyone can win on any day,” said Smith. “We’re trying to get to state.
