Semoball

Oran wins two; Kelly loses close contest to Helias Catholic in Notre Dame Showcase

Oran's Carter Heuring (left) and Nic Massey (right) touch gloves after defeating Cooter in the Notre Dame Showcase, at Notre Dame Regional High School, in Cape Girardeau, Mo., on Saturday, April 17, 2021.
Alex Wallner/Standard Democrat

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Oran and Kelly competed in the Notre Dame Showcase on Saturday, at Notre Dame Regional High School, in Cape Girardeau.

The Eagles won a pair of games — one against Notre Dame and another against Cooter — while the Hawks went 0-2, losing to Valle Catholic and Helias Catholic.

Oran 3, Cooter 2

In the second game of the day for the Eagles, they faced the state-ranked Wildcats, defeating them 3-2.

A scoreless game heading into the third inning, Cooter (10-2) drew first blood, scoring after an error on the Eagles — one of two runs from the Wildcats that came unearned.

Chances were dwindling for Oran (12-1), as Cooter kept the top-ranked team in Class 1 off the scoreboard for four innings.

However, the Eagles finally got a golden opportunity to score and cashed in.

Starting the bottom of the fifth, Nic Massey drew a walk, while Luke Peterson singled to put runners on first and second.

Leadoff man Carter Heuring then pushed both runners into scoring position after a successful sacrifice bunt.

The Eagles would have their backs against the wall after Kolten Payne lined out to the Cooter shortstop, leaving a pair of runners in scoring position with two outs, but Ty Johnson made sure to keep the inning alive.

Johnson worked the second walk of the frame for Oran to load the bases for Dawson Menz, who didn’t disappoint.

Menz ripped the first offering from Hayden Nazarenas to deep left field. The ball nearly went over the fence for a grand slam but hit off the wall, allowing all three runners to score and making the 3-2 final.

From there, Heuring closed the door on the Wildcats, allowing one baserunner over his two innings of work. He struck out five batters during that time, as well.

Menz was the lone Oran player to have more than one hit, as he finished a perfect 2-for-2.

Nazarenas and John Crowder each had multiple hits for Cooter, as both players went 2-for-3.

On the mound, Payne got the start for Oran and dazzled. He threw five innings, allowing four hits and no earned runs while fanning nine batters and walking only one.

Lukas Barnes started for Cooter, allowing four hits and two runs — both earned — over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out four batters and walked two.

Cooter 0011000—250
Oran000030X—352

WP — Kolten Payne. LP — Lukas Barnes. 2B — Kaden Hargrove (O). 3B — Dawson Menz (O), Multiple hitters: Oran — Dawson Menz 2-2; Cooter — Hayden Nazarenas 2-3, John Crowder 2-3.

Oran 6, Notre Dame 2

Oran never trailed against Notre Dame, defeating the Bulldogs 6-2 in its first game of the day.

The Eagles scored four runs in the first two innings to back up hurler Kaden Hargrove, who kept the Bulldogs off-balance the entire game.

Hargrove pitched a complete game, allowing five hits and two runs while striking out 10.

Six different Oran players collected hits, with Seth Cauble and Luke Peterson each having two, while Heuring and Menz had two RBIs.

For Notre Dame, Connor Wissinger went 2-for-3 at the plate and was also the lone Bulldog to have more than one hit.

Oran2200110—680
Notre Dame0100010—251

WP — Kaden Hargrove. LP — Grant James. 2B — Seth Cauble (O), Dawson Menz (O), Austin Gast (ND), Connor Wissinger (ND). 3B — Luke Peterson (O), Connor Wissinger (ND). Multiple hitters: Oran — Seth Cauble 2-2, Luke Peterson 2-3; Notre Dame — Connor Wissinger 2-3.

Helias Catholic 1, Kelly 0

A pitcher’s duel nearly lasted the entirety of the game for Kelly against Helias Catholic in the Hawks' second — and final — game of the day.

Junior Gavin Jansen only allowed one hit through five innings while fanning six batters and yielding six walks in the Hawks' 1-0 loss.

The Crusaders' lone run came in the top of the seventh after Brandon Scheulen singled off of Kelly (11-3) hurler Colton Essner — who began his second inning of work.

Scheulen then advanced into scoring position after an error and moved to third after Alex Loethen grounded out to the Kelly first baseman.

With a runner on third and one away, Helias Catholic went the old-fashioned route to take the lead.

On the second pitch he saw, Sam Wyrick laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt that scored Scheulen from third to make the final score.

However, Kelly didn’t go away quietly.

After back-to-back outs to start the inning, the Hawks loaded the bases, as Essner got hit by a pitch, Drew Dirnberger collected a base hit, and Bryce Phelps drew a walk to bring up Jansen for a chance to tie or win the game.

Kaden Hampson, though, struck out Jansen on a pitch that broke into the dirt to end the contest. Kelly finished the showcase with a 1-2 record.

Helias0000001—130
Kelly0000000—061

WP — Cole Peters. LP — Colton Essner. 2B — Will Herrbold (HC), Cole Stumpe (HC). Multiple hitters: Kelly — Drew Dirnberger 2-3, Bryce Morgan 2-2.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: