Opportunistic South Pem eliminates Scott City

~ The Rams gave up five walks, hit two batters and made four errors.

STEELE -- Scott City had 10 hits -- seven for extra bases -- and put at least one runner on base in every inning Wednesday in the Class 2 sectional game with South Pemiscot.

But what the Rams didn't have was "the big inning."

South Pemiscot had its big inning with a two-out, four-run eruption in the bottom of the sixth inning that propelled the Bulldogs to a 9-4 victory.

South Pem (22-5) will play West County (17-11), which was a 9-8 victor Wednesday against Clearwater, in a state quarterfinal game in Park Hills.

Scott City's Clayton Hall hit a double against South Pemiscot during their sectional game Wednesday in Steele, Mo. (Kit Doyle)

Scott City concluded its season at 17-7.

"Timely hitting has been our deal in the games we have lost," said first-year Scott City coach Lance Amick, whose team lost for just the second time in its last 15 games. "We didn't get timely hits today.

"We've hit the ball well all year, and we knew we'd score enough runs to win, but South Pemiscot was just the better team today."

Each team had 10 hits -- and none of South Pem's went for extra bases -- but the Bulldogs were more opportunistic. They accepted five walks and had two hit batsmen, while Scott City had just two free passes.

The Rams, who played errorless ball behind Ryan Modglin's 13 strikeouts in a two-hitter that beat Chaffee in the district final, made four errors Wednesday. Three of them contributed to South Pem's scoring.

Modglin was not as effective Wednesday as he had been in a streak of four starts this month that included two no-hitters, a combined no-hitter and the two-hit shutout of Chaffee.

"It just didn't look like he had the pop that he had the other day against Chaffee," South Pem coach Aaron New said, "but he's still an outstanding pitcher."

South Pem scored two runs in the first inning -- one on a wild pitch -- and two more in the second, when Modglin was credited with an error on his throw to first base on a sacrifice attempt. Taylor Laden's two-out single drove in two runs and put the Bulldogs ahead 4-2.

After Matt Carter singled to lead off the third inning, Shae Simmons replaced Modglin. Simmons managed to pitch through a couple of jams as Scott City rallied to tie the game at 4-4 through 4 1/2 innings.

Simmons, a sophomore, was a big offensive contributor as well. He opened the game with a triple and scored on a two-out hit by Blake Dirnberger. He also doubled in the third but was picked off second base, and he doubled in the seventh.

Fellow sophomore Clayton Hall homered in the second inning for one of his two extra-base hits.

Besides the runs scored by Simmons and Hall, Rynn Eskew scored in the fourth inning on a two-out basehit by No. 9 batter Josh Henson.

Modglin then led off the fifth inning by blasting a home run to left-center field. That tied the score at 4-4.

But South Pem answered in the bottom half of the fifth with one run. Matt Carter, South Pem's ace who was lifted in the fourth inning, singled, stole second and moved to third on the throwing error. He scored on a groundout by Aaron Booker.

South Pem put the game out of reach with its big inning in the sixth.

The Bulldogs loaded the bases with two singles and a hit batsman. Simmons got a fielder's choice and then struck out the next batter, but Booker placed a basehit through the hole in the left side for two runs. After a stolen base, two more runs came in on an infield throwing error.

The five-run cushion made Scott City's top of the lineup more manageable for Jeremy Patton in the seventh inning.

"I liked our chances even though we were down one," Amick said about the situation after 5 1/2 innings.

"Shea Simmons threw an awesome ballgame," Amick added. "They had the bases loaded with no outs and he battled back and almost got out of it. That's just the way it goes. It wasn't our day."

South Pemiscot 9, Scott City 4

Scott City 110 110 0 -- 4 10 4

South Pem. 220 014 x -- 9 10 0

WP -- Ben Smith, 5-0. LP -- Shae Simmons. Sv -- Jeremy Patton. 2B -- Simmons (SC) 2, Blake Dirnberger (SC), Clayton Hall (SC). 3B -- Simmons (SC). HR -- Hall (SC), Ryan Modglin (SC). Multiple hits -- Scott City, Simmons 3-4, Dirnberger 2-4, Hall 2-2; South Pemiscot, Jeremy Patton 2-3, Taylor Laden 3-4, Matt Carter 2-4, Aaron Booker 2-4. Records -- Scott City 17-7, South Pemiscot 22-5.

---

See the video clips and photo gallery on Semoball.com.