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Sikeston sweeps through pool play
SIKESTON -- Sweeping all three games of their pool play Friday in the Midwest Plains Regional Babe Ruth Tournament, the Sikeston Lady Bulldogs 14-and-under squad secured the second-seed in this weekend's double-elimination bracket play.
"First of all, our defense was outstanding," Sikeston coach Rick Tidwell said after his team's second win of the day. "Paige Sailors is our pitcher and she's been a workhorse since last night and she just pitched a great game."
With Friday's win opening game win against Buhler, Colo., plus the Lady Bulldogs three wins Friday left them with a 4-0 record at the end of pool play.
Kicking off play Friday at nine in the morning, Sikeston was able to pull out of a 5-5 tie going in to the final inning to secure the win.
"I got my leadoff batter on, which is my shortstop Madison Chaney, and she's a little demon on wheels," Tidwell said. "She stole second, stole third and scored before we got one out. It was great"
Tidwell said Chaney took home when, on a dropped third strike to another batter, the catcher threw to first base, allowing Chaney to cross the plate before the first baseman could get the ball back in time.
Later in the day, the Lady Bulldogs followed that up with a 9-2 win over the Rose Hill, Kan., Raptors.
"Our defense stood up and the offense came around," Tidwell said. "The girls were running hard, fast and doing what needed to be done."
Breaking a 2-2 tie going in to the bottom of the third, Sikeston rallied for three runs in the frame and would never look back.
After a scoreless fourth, the Lady Bulldogs would add another run in the fifth and three more in the sixth inning to make up the final.
All game long Sikeston was able to take advantage of the Raptors errors, including scoring all three go-ahead runs in the third on off Rose Hill's miscues.
"We'll take advantage of any errors and mistakes that we can," Tidwell said. "If they're slow to the ball, we're going to keep running. I have some fast girls on this team."
This win proved to be most beneficial for Sikeston as, with a seven-team field leaving the Lady Dogs with an extra game more than most teams, their third and final contest coming up later in the day would not be counted when determining seeding.
This left Sikeston tying the Cherry Creek, Colo., Heat for best record with the Lady Bulldogs losing out on the first-seed in the tournament to the Heat on runs allowed with the Sikeston giving up nine runs to Cherry Creek's five.
None the less, the second-seed still granted Sikeston a first-round bye Saturday when the tournament kicked off.
While their third game of a very hot and windy day may not have not meant anything to the standings, the Lady Bulldogs were able to keep their momentum rolling, scoring 11 runs in the final inning to take the 19-11 victory over the Osawatomie, Kan., Rockets to wrap up the day.
"We were already the second seed with a bye for tomorrow, so the girls were kind of looking at it as a practice game," Tidwell said.
"I told them we're going to face this team in the tournament probably so this isn't a practice game. You play like it's a real game.
"They had a of errors on and we just took advantage of them running all over the bases."
Results for the Lady Dog's Saturday and Sunday action will be available in Monday's edition of the Standard Democrat.