Crusaders claim district title

~ Saxony Lutheran avoided another late-inning comeback by Kelly and won 6-4 in the district final.

CHARLESTON -- Saxony Lutheran senior Chris Roth was haunted by memories of one of the toughest losses of his pitching career during the Class 2 District 3 title game Wednesday.

As Kelly hitters started to rally against him in the top of the seventh inning, Roth began to think about last year's district title game against Valle Catholic when he took a one-run lead into the seventh but gave up two runs to suffer the loss.

"When I was out there I was kind of thinking about last year when I gave up a couple runs," Roth said. "So I was just hoping to get through it and get a victory."

Roth did pitch his way out of a tough seventh inning against Kelly to lead the Crusaders to their second district title in program history and first since 2006.

Roth surrendered three runs on three hits and one walk in the seventh, but held off the No. 6 Hawks. Top-seeded Saxony posted a 6-4 victory at Charleston High School.

"It was different in the last inning," said Roth, who struck out 11 batters in his complete-game effort. "I was having trouble getting ahead, and I was down 1-0 and 2-0 in counts. And the last couple hitters I just really needed to get ahead, and I was able to do that on the last hitter."

Saxony (22-3) will play a home sectional game against Valle Catholic on Monday. Valle has eliminated Saxony from the postseason the past two springs.

Kelly already had overcome a two-run deficit by scoring five runs in the seventh against ace Shae Simmons to beat Scott City 8-5 on Tuesday in the district semifinal.

"I think it was the toughest lineup I've faced all year," Roth said. "We saw what they did to Shae yesterday. We were watching them play and we knew they could hit."

Roth took a 6-1 lead into the seventh, but the first two Kelly batters reached base. Roth struck out the next hitter for the first out, but a hit to right field moments later cut the deficit to 6-2. Roth then got the next batter to ground out for the second out, but a run scored to make it 6-3.

Ryan Rolwing, the No. 9 hitter, then stepped to the plate and hammered an RBI double to deep center field, making it 6-4 and bringing the tying run to the plate.

But Roth stopped the rally by getting Ethan Lee to fly out to right field to end the game.

"We ran out of magic," Kelly coach Nathan Wills said. "We started out slow. We came on strong. We threatened almost every inning, really. We just couldn't get enough runs over early. We couldn't cut into the lead. We could never open one earlier than the last inning there.

"I thought [Roth] pitched a great game. He was ahead in the count a lot, which caused us a lot of problems -- early especially. I think we did hit the ball well late. It just took us a while to get going. That put us in a hole."

Kelly (11-10) did hit well against Roth, who improved to 9-1 this season and 1-2 in district title games.

Kelly batters stroked 12 hits and had runners on base each inning. They had at least one hit in each inning except the sixth, and put at least two runners on in every inning except for the second.

But Roth just kept working out of jams.

Roth struck out Brett Harper to strand runners at first and second in the fifth. He then pitched himself out of a sixth inning jam where the bases were loaded with one out. Roth got a strikeout, then got Dustin Crowden, who had three hits, to pop to the first baseman.

"He made pitches when he had to," Saxony catcher Bret Steffens said about Roth. "He didn't have his best stuff, but when he had to make a pitch to get out of a jam and he had to make a play, he did. That's what he's done all year. He just showed how good he was today. Chris has been our ace all year."

Saxony scored three runs in the first inning for the second straight game. It led 4-0 after two innings.

Lee started on the mound for Kelly because ace Levi Felter and No. 2 pitcher Ryan Essner already had pitched earlier this week in the tournament.

Roth smashed a two-run triple to put the Crusaders ahead 6-1 in the fourth. Roth had two hits and reached base three times.

Kelly 000 100 3 -- 4 12 2

Saxony 310 200 X -- 6 5 2

WP -- Chris Roth, 9-1. LP -- Ethan Lee. 3B -- Chris Roth (SL). 2B -- Dustin Crowden 2 (K), Brett Harper (K), Ryan Rolwing (K), Ryan Sprandel (SL). Multiple hits -- Saxony: Roth 2-3. Kelly -- Crowden 3-4, Levi Felter 3-3, Rolwing 2-3. Records -- Saxony 22-3, Kelly 11-10.