By Chris Parker
Weather made it take a little longer than expected, but Fair Grove is moving on to the Class 3 state championship after beating Portageville 3-0 in the state semifinal round on Wednesday at Ozark Mountain Sports Complex in Ozark.
The start of the game was delayed by weather by about 45 minutes. The teams played through dry conditions until there were two outs in the seventh with Fair Grove two outs away from a win when the skies opened up that that forced the game to be delayed for 80 minutes.
“We talked yesterday looking at the weather that we might have to deal with a delay or postponement or something like that,” Fair Grove head coach William Reed said. “I have been through one of these as an assistant coach. How you come back and respond is huge.”
The weather chaos was matched by the chaos in the field.
After a scoreless top of the first inning, Macklen Johnson led off with a walk for Fair Grove in the bottom half of the inning. He advanced to second on a pass ball and came around to score on a throwing error after a Harrison Martin bunt single to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
“We typically score a little later in the game, so scoring early was huge,” Reed said. “I thought our guys had a really great approach against their No. 1. I was proud about that. We try to prepare them as much as we can, but you never know until the bullets are flying. They did a really great job.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
In the bottom of the second, Atticus Brandes singled to right with one out and moved to second on an error.
Johnson came back up and put the ball in play to reach on another error which scored Brandes to make it 2-0, heading into the third inning.
“All postseason we have been fighting from behind, so it was nice to start out ahead,” starting pitcher Brock Boatwright said. “We knew if we got a few that we would be able to maintain it.”
In the bottom of the third, Jakoeby McDannald singled with one out followed by another single by Nolan Geitz allowing McDannald to go to third. Geitz took second on the throw.
Boatright stepped up and executed a perfect suicide squeeze to bring home the game’s third run.
“Big game, big bunts,” Reed said. “We had three or four that were really huge.”
From there, Boatwright continued to throw up zeroes including getting out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the fourth.
In the sixth, the rain came. Boatwright got one out before giving up a double in a steady rain before a downpour began.
After the 80-minute delay, Boatwright came back out to the mound. Portageville’s next two batters reached to load the bases, putting the game-tying run on first and the go-ahead run at the plate.
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF THE GAME
Fair Grove went to Spensar Seiger to close the game out. He got a flyout to right and groundout to first to preserve the shutout and end the game.
Fair Grove advances to the Class 3 state championship game for the first time in program history where the Eagles await the winner of Fatima and Holden.
“We can’t change anything that has got us to this point,” Reed said. “They have all played in big games. Some of them have played in championship games on the football field, so they are prepared. If they do their job we will have a chance.”
Fair Grove will play for the Class 3 state championship at 1 pm on Thursday in Ozark at the Ozark Mountain Sports Complex.
