Northwest Implement has brought three teams to Rolla this weekend.
At least wo will be in their respective tournament finals.
Northwest Implement, whose players are mostly from the Maryville, Mo. area, is sending squads to the finals in both the Boys’ 16 & Under and Boys’ 18 & Under brackets at the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) National Fast-Pitch Tournaments, being held at the Ber Juan Park Sportsplex.
Rolla is hosting the ASA Boys’ 16 & Under, Boys’ 18 & Under and Men’s 23 & Under National Fast-Pitch Tournaments.
In the Boys’ 18 & Under Tournament Northwest Implement won a pair of games on Friday, beating Embroidery Touch (South Dakota) 8-4 and holding off Reese Bulldogs (Michigan) 6-5.
In other 18 & Under games Friday Reese Bulldogs shut out Schmitz Farms (Missouri) 10-0 in the first round. In the losers bracket Embroidery Touch drilled Schmitz Farms 16-0.
Saturday 18 & Under games has Reese Bulldogs vs. Schmitz Farms at 8 a.m. on the South Field. The winner of that game will meet Embroidery Touch at 1 p.m. Saturday on the South Field in the losers bracket final. The winner of that contest will meet Northwest Implement at 5 p.m. Saturday on the South Field in the 18 & Under finals. In case an “if” game is needed, it will be held at 9 p.m. Saturday on the South Field.
In the Boys’ 16 & Under Tournament defending national champion Northwest Implement advanced to the championship game with a come-from-behind win Friday morning. Hennager (Minnesota) will meet Richville (Michigan) at 10 a.m. Saturday on the South Field in the finals of the losers bracket.
The winner of that game advances to the 16 & Under title round against Northwest Implement at 3 p.m. Saturday on the South Field. In case an “if” game is needed, it’s set for 7 p.m. Saturday on the South Field.
Play in the Men’s 23 & Under bracket is slated to kick off Saturday morning. In 23-Under first-round games it’s Northwest Implement (Missouri) vs. Munger Fast Pitch (Michigan) at 8 a.m. on the Kimmel Field; Hennager Plumbing & Heating (Minnesota) vs. BAC Pride (Illinois) at 8 a.m. on North Field, and Schmitz Dozing (Missouri) vs. PageBrake (Utah) at 10 a.m. on North Field.
Defending Men’s 23 & Under national champion Explosion (South Dakota) will play the Northwest Implement/Munger Fast Pitch winner at 10 a.m. Saturday on Kimmel Field.
Here are Friday’s results:
Age 18 & Under
Second Round
Northwest Implement 6, Reese Bulldogs 5: Reese couldn’t quite overcome a tough injury loss. Reese entered the bottom of the sixth inning trailing 6-3. The Bulldogs then scored two runs in the sixth and had the tying run at third base and go-ahead run at first, when a fly ball to leftfield ended the game.
Reese shortstop Ryan Avery suffered a shoulder injury in the fifth inning, causing a 15-minute delay. Avery was taken to Phelps County Regional Medical Center by ambulance.
Northwest Implement scored five runs in the fourth inning and one in the fifth. Reese got one run in the first frame and two more in the fourth.
Brodie Abell slammed a homer while Michael Scanlan singled and scored twice and Japheth Busick singled and scored a run for Northwest Implement.
Ben Fleischmann and Jonathan Bohn each had two hits and John Gwizdala singled and scored twice for Reese.
Abell was the winning pitcher. Rolla’s Jesse Skaggs is playing for Northwest Implement this weekend.
First Round
Reese Bulldogs 10, Schmitz Farms 0: Gwizdala had a big game at the plate and on the mound. As a hitter Gwizdala slugged a triple, two singles and scored three runs. As a pitcher he tossed a no-hitter, fanning seven batters and walking six.
It was all Bulldogs, who scored one run in the top of the first inning, three in the second, one in the third, one in the fourth and four in the fifth.
Also for the Bulldogs Andrew Mendt had a double and scored two runs while Fleischmann had a single and scored twice.
Northwest Implement 8, Embroidery Touch 4: Northwest Implement erupted for six runs in the top of the fifth inning to pull away. The big sixth frame made it 8-0. Embroidery Touch closed the gap with four runs in the bottom of the fifth before falling short.
Northwest Implement also got solo runs in the first and fourth innings.
Tanner Walter had a homer, single and scored twice for the winners while Gilbert Henry had a double and single, Kyle Schieber had two hits, Brett Walker had a triple and scored a run and Ryan McQuinn scored twice.
On the mound Scanlan tossed a three-hitter, although he did walk seven. He also struck out seven.
Austin Smith had all three hits and scored a run for Embroidery Touch.
Losers Bracket
Embroidery Touch 16, Schmitz Farms 0: In a blowout win, Embroidery Touch scored one run in the first inning, nine in the third and six in the fourth.
Smith was 3-for-3 with a homer, double, single and had three RBI for the winners while Nate Jordahl was 2-for-2 with a double, single and two RBI; Ben Tursam tripled and scored; Tucker Smith doubled, singled and scored and Mike Boone scored three times.
Justin Conover tripled for the lone Schmitz run.
Age 16 & Under
Winners Bracket
Northwest Implement 12, Hennager 11: Defending national champion Northwest Implement advanced to the championship round when Kyle Pennington singled in Clayton Schieber with the winning run to cap a wild, eight-run bottom of the seventh inning.
Hennager entered the bottom of the seventh with a 11-4 advantage. Norbert Henry had two hits and two RBI in the big Northwest Implement seventh.
The winners also got two runs in each of the first and second innings. Hennager tallied four runs in the second, two in each of the fourth and fifth, one in the sixth and two in the seventh.
Schieber pounded a pair of homers and single for Northwest Implement while Jacob Stoll had a homer and single, and Tyler McQuinn had a single and scored three times.
Jake Dalton was 4-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored for Hennager while Spencer Yackel had a double, single, three RBI and two runs scored; Lewis Uhrich doubled and singled; Brandon Gilman had a hit and scored twice, and Bryan Hennager scored twice.
Losers Bracket
Richville 11, Decatur Pride/Red Mat Media 10: Alex Dutton’s RBI single drove in Drew Thompson with the wining run in the bottom of the fifth inning as Richville stayed alive. Richville tallied two runs in each of the first, second, third and fourth innings and then won with three runs in the fifth.
Decatur Pride got four runs in the first inning, two in the third, three in the fourth and one in the fifth.
Drew Thurston slammed a two-run homer, had a single and scored twice for the winners while Krafft was 2-for-3 with a triple and Thompson and Craig Kelly each had a single and scored twice.
Jason Luster was 2-for-3 with two runs scored; while Wurtz doubled and scored twice and Jordan Mullen scored twice for Decatur Pride/Red Mat Media.
Soukup Bulldozers 4, Decatur Pride/Red Mat Media: Robby Dockry’s groundout scored Alex Williams with the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Bulldozers the win. Soukup got tow runs in the third and in the fourth. Decatur Pride tallied two runs in the third inning and one in the sixth.
Justin Warne had a double, run scored and RBI for the winners while Williams was 2-for-2 with two runs scored. Warne was the winning pitcher, fanning 11.
Wurtz and Tyler Johnson each singled and scored for Decatur Pride.
Richville 6, Soukup Bulldozers 2: Richville tallied all six runs in the fifth inning to win, taking advantage of four hits, two errors and a wild pitch. The Bulldozers got single runs in the second and sixth frames.
Kelly had a two-run homer for Richville and Zack Lach tossed a four-hitter on the mound. For the Bulldozers Van Woert had an RBI single and Zach DeJong and Alex Williamson each scored runs.
