It took 27 innings and then one swing of the bat to decide a winner in Webb City and Platte County’s best-of-three series in the Class 5 quarterfinals.
Brennan McLaughlin clubbed a double to the center field wall with the bases loaded and two outs and the visiting Pirates earned a walk-off 6-5 win in extra innings Saturday to get the 2-1 series win and advance to face Rockwood Summit in the semifinals on June 6.
“It was playoff baseball and no one wanted to go home, it was perfect,” Platte County coach John Sipes said. “They are probably the best team we’ve played all year long. Well coached, they did all the little things right so credit to them. If it wasn’t us, they deserved it. We finally got the big hit and luck was on our side I guess. God was on our side.”
The series featured two extra-innings games including Webb City’s 4-3 win in 11 innings in Friday’s opener, and Saturday’s games were just as close.
Platte County (27-8), which played as the home team on the scoreboard in Saturday’s games, jumped out to a 4-1 lead in game 2. Webb City scored two runs in the 5th, then had runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out in the 6th, and runners at 1st and 2nd with one out in the 7th, but the Cardinals couldn’t score the game-tying run and fell 4-3 to force a game 3.
Webb City’s Mason Young singled in a run in the 3rd in the finale and then Brody Eggleston hit a sacrifice fly to score Brock Renfro for a 2-0 lead. The Cardinals made it 3-0 in the 4th when Mason Williams hit a sac fly to score Braden Strickland.
Platte County made it 3-1 with an error and a double in the bottom of the 4th, and two straight singles and then a double to deep center tied the game in the bottom of the 6th. But even with a runner at 2nd and no outs, the Pirates couldn’t break the deadlock. They had the bases loaded with one out, but Webb City pitcher Tate Lewis fielded a short grounder and threw home and catcher Mason Williams fired to first for the inning-ending double play.
Platte County almost ended it in the bottom of the seventh. A single and a wild pitch put a runner at 2nd with nobody out, but the Cardinals got two strikeouts and a fielder’s choice at third to escape.
The Cardinals seized the momentum in the top of the 9th.
Cohen Epler was hit by a pitch to lead off and advanced to second on a passed ball. After a balk, he was at third with nobody out. Andrew Young was intentionally walked with one out, and after he took second uncontested the Pirates intentionally walked Williams to load the bases. Renfro hit a deep sacrifice fly to right to score one run, and then Young lined a single to make it a 5-3 game.
Webb City reliever Chayse Denton got the first two outs in the bottom of the 9th before giving up an infield single and two walks to load the bases. That brought McLaughlin to the plate, and he quickly fell into an 0-2 hole before hitting the bases-clearing double to win it.
“I didn’t watch,” Sipes said. “I was praying and I had my head staring at the ground. I didn’t even watch it. I heard it and I heard everybody cheering, looked up and saw the outfielder’s numbers.”
“I would anticipate this is what people hope for in a high school baseball series,” Webb City coach Andrew Doennig said. “Extra inning game, then lose one today by one run and then another extra-inning game and they walk us off. I hope this is the goal of what MSHSAA wanted with the series and I would anticipate it is. You find out who the best team is and at the end of the day they were the better team. They scored when it mattered, so hats off to them.”
“I’m not sure there’s anything you can say to make it feel better,” he said. “I’m not sure there’s anything I can say to make them sleep better tonight. I told them I was proud of their effort, proud of the way they competed. I think we showed we were a good baseball team the way we came out and played.”
Webb City finished with a 20-15 record and went 11-4 in the month of May.
“I don’t want to play them anymore, I can tell you that,” Sipes said of the Cardinals. “It was the best baseball I’ve seen in my career, all three games.”
Mason Young was 3-for-5 with 2 RBI’s for Webb City in the finale and Renfro was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Andrew Young had a double and a steal. Tate Lewis was impressive on the mound, tossing 8 innings and allowing just two earned runs and a walk with seven strikeouts.
Epler was 3-for-4 in game 2 earlier in the day, and Andrew Young was 2-for-3 with a run. Both players hit doubles in that game. Luke Beverlin pitched all seven innings and allowed one earned run and a walk while striking out four.
Andrew Young was 3-for-6 with a triple, a run and 2 RBI’s on Friday, and Mason Williams went 2-for-4 with two steals. Braden Strickland scored twice. Landon Fletcher pitched the first eight innings in that game with three earned runs, a walk and six strikeouts. Tate Lewis tossed 2.1 scoreless innings with three strikeouts, and Chayse Denton pitched 0.2 innings without allowing a hit.
