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By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Should the run have counted or not?
The question will bug Willard baseball all offseason and have many people going back to watch the final seconds of game tape on repeat.
Willard, the defending Class 5 state champions, lost 4-3 to Festus in eight innings – marred in Willard’s eyes by a disputed finish.
“We played well today, but not as well as Festus,” said Willard coach Scott McGee. “We weren’t able to score enough today. That’s the way it is.”
The game took a wild twist as Festus was celebrating its winning run.
With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, Festus drew a full-count walk to bring home the winning run and advanced to Saturday’s Class 5 state championship game (vs. Platte County) at US Ballpark in Ozark.
Willard argued – to no avail – that two Festus baserunners failed to reach their ensuing bases after ball four, instead joining their teammates in celebration. The argument included the runner going from second to third and the batter who walked.
“The guy from home to first didn’t make it to first before he got tackled by his teammates. You can’t impede your own runner. If you touch your own runner, he’s out, too,” McGee said. “Regardless, that takes nothing away from Festus. It’s just such a frustrating end. Honestly, everything changed in that eighth inning on some calls.”
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McGee pleaded Willard’s case, but umpires upheld the call and determined the winning run had scored without issue.
Willard even threw the ball back in play in hopes of drawing a force out that would have extended the game.
“This is going to be tough to recover from,” McGee said. “It’s fresh, but I’ve coached for 18 years in this conference and that’s the most frustrating loss – with some of the outside factors – that I’ve had in my career.”
Willard was trying to make history this weekend.
Since MSHSAA expanded the baseball champions to five (now six) Classes in 2013, no Class 5 school has ever repeated as state champions.
“It’s pretty tough,” Willard outfielder Owen Bushnell said of the extra-inning loss. “No team has ever repeated in Class 5 because it’s hard.”
Willard couldn’t have asked for a better start, taking a 2-0 lead on Bushnell’s two-out, two-run single in the first inning.
Festus immediately answered in its first at-bat, plating two runs to tie the game.
Willard retook the lead in the third on Kyden McMain’s RBI single. Festus tied the game again in the bottom-half of the inning on Caleb Schneider’s sac-fly RBI.
Willard tallied just three total hits against Festus pitchers Mason Schirmer and Ian Brown.
Willard eluded big damage in multiple innings thanks to starting pitcher Cooper Wilken and reliever Kade Biellier, who swapped in and out throughout the game.
Festus stranded the bases loaded in the third and fourth. Festus also failed to score with a runner on third and one out in the fifth.
Wilken and Biellier combined for 13 strikeouts, but also issued seven walks.
On the other side, Schirmer settled down after a shaky first inning. He went 5 1/3 innings on 94 pitches (57 strikes), allowing three hits, three walks and recording five strikeouts.
“I figured, honestly, that he would settle in,” Bushnell said. “Most pitchers come out, in big games like this, and they’re amped up and chucking all over the place. Our pitchers always say that they’re surprised their first pitch isn’t 60 feet up the net on the backstop.”
Festus relief pitcher Nathan Moore didn’t allow a hit and struck out three over 2 2/3 innings.
Together, Schirmer and Moore kept a Willard offense that was averaging 7.5 runs per game in check.
Willard will be capable of making another run at a state championship next season.
The Tigers return much of the same nucleus that helped them win the program’s first state championship in 2021 – when that team was mostly sophomores and freshmen.
“I foresee us being back here next year,” Bushnell said. “We’re only losing three seniors. Basically our whole hitting lineup is coming back. We have a ton of pitching depth coming up. I definitely foresee us coming back and having another chance at a state championship.”
Willard finishes this season at 4 p.m. Saturday at US Ballpark in Ozark, facing Ft. Zumwalt East in the Class 5 3rd place game.
