EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
A wild pitch in the seventh inning may have led to the winning run for the Hutchinson Monarchs over the Liberal Bee Jays, but it was a play earlier in the game that may have the Bee Jays regretting a missed opportunity at the NBC World Series in Wichita.
Liberal bowed out in ninth place after losing 2-1 to the Monarchs in the first round of bracket play.
The defensive battle made every base runner critical, and the Bee Jays had several runners early.
The Bee Jays had two runners on in the second inning, but Noah Giovannelli was stranded at third when Seth Green struck out to end the inning.
The Bee Jays started the third inning by loading the bases with no outs when Ben Finnegan led off with a single, Cooper Kardokus walked, and Cole Manuel singled to center.
But Josiah Rojas grounded into a double play that scored Finnegan and advanced Kardokus to third where he was stranded after a groundout by Trenton Uyeda, and despite having the bases loaded with no outs, Liberal only managed to score a single run.
The Bee Jay defense was able to keep the game close in the third when the Monarchs put two runners on base with two outs, and an RBI single tied the game at 1-1.
But Josh Caravalho was able to strike out Jaden Gustafson to leave a Monarch stranded at second.
Another double play removed a scoring threat by the Bee Jays in the fourth, and the Bee Jay fifth came to an end with another double play.
The Bee Jay defense then ended a Monarch threat in the sixth with a double play.
Liberal went down in order in the seventh before AJ Mustow hit a one-out double in the seventh. A ground out advance Mustow to third, but with two outs.
Relief pitcher Thomas Fowler struggled to find the zone against Owen Rush, and after starting the at-bat with two straight balls, Fowler threw a wild pitch that allowed Mustow to score, and that gave the Monarchs a 2-1 lead.
Fowler walked Rush before getting Nash Wray to hit a pop fly to left to end the inning, but the Bee Jays trailed 2-1.
Finnegan led off the eighth inning with a single, but the Bee Jays couldn’t follow after a Kardokus line out followed by back-to-back strikeouts by Manuel and Rojas.
The Bee Jays again put the tying run on base in the ninth with a pinch hit single by Cal Anthony. After a Kaden Isola fly out, Anthony advanced to second when Cade Adams grounded out, and Jhett Huffman was Liberal’s last chance to get a score. But after fouling off a pitch in his at-bat, Huffman struck out swinging to end the season for the Bee Jays with a 2-1 loss.
The Bee Jays outhit the Monarchs 6-4, and the Monarchs also committed three errors to none for the Bee Jays, but the wild pitch along with missed scoring opportunities early proved to be too much for the Bee Jays in the 2-1 loss.
Finnegan had two of Liberal’s six hits.
Following Liberal’s loss, Hays was defeated by the Seattle Studs, 8-3, to eliminate both teams from the Rocky Mountain Baseball League.
Today’s quarterfinal games begin at noon with the Austin Gold Sox against the Santa Barbara Foresters, the Seattle Blackfins against the Junction City Brigade at 3 p.m., the Alaska Goldpanners against the Monarchs at 6 p.m., and the Lonestar Baseball Club against the Seattle Studs at 8:30 p.m.
