Seemingly in control of a baseball game, another grand slam given up proved devastating for McDonald County Post 392 Tuesday night in an elimination game in the American Legion District 15 playoffs.

Post 392 held an 8-5 lead over Carl Junction Post 781 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, needing only three frames of three outs to secure a win and play another day.

Carl Junction, the No. 2 seed, scored eight runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and held on for a 13-9 victory to end the season for McDonald County.

The game brought the careers of two Post 392 players – Travis Spears and Robert Cornell – to a conclusion.

Cornell, the starting catcher for both the high school and legion team the last three years, was on deck with the bases loaded when the game ended. The loss, as expected, was tough on the signal caller. His eyes were the same color as his Oklahoma T-shirt.

The loss ends McDonald County’s season at 30-19, while Carl Junction lived to play another day in the double-elimination tournament.

“I am proud of the kids, they had a good year,” said McDonald County Lee Smith. “We lose two players from this team in Robert and Travis. They were part of the family here.
They were here early and they stayed late. They had a lot of respect from the players and they will be hard to replace.”

The end result of this game was essentially changed in the seventh inning – which would’ve been the final inning during a regular season legion game.

Post 392 was clinging to a slim 6-5 lead when it scored a pair of runs to extend its lead.
Bo Bergen led off with a walk and moved to second base on Jeb Clark’s hard-hit grounder through the left side of the infield. A fly ball to center field moved Bergen to third base. Clark then stole second base to put both runners in scoring position.

Drew Pearcy hit his second sacrifice fly of the game – and his second to right field – to score Bergen making it 7-5. Spears then followed with a “Texas Leaguer” to right field that fell between the first baseman, second baseman and right fielder, to score Clark.

It didn’t take long for things to unravel, and with one swing of the bat, Carl Junction took command of the game.

Logan Deem reached on an error to open things for Post 781 (18-19). Seth Spencer then singled, forcing a pitching change.

Reliever Sy Morris walked Matt Thompson, before Jackson “Jack” Luton hit a fly ball that kept on carrying and went over the fence for a grand slam. Just like that, Carl Junction had rallied to take a 9-8 lead.

It was the second home run in recent games that hurt McDonald County. In the opening game loss to Carthage, a grand slam made the difference in a 10-9 lead.

“After the error to open the inning, Nick (Wills) was at about 120 pitches,” said Smith.
“Sy had been pitching well. It just wasn’t in the cards.”

Carl Junction, after the grand slam, got two quick outs, but bounced back as six straight batters reached safely and four more runs scored.

Jake Hale, who started for Carl Junction, singled with two outs. Evan Clemons drew a walk and both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch. A two-run single by Travis Green made it 11-8.  Deem and Nate Eddy both drew walks to load the bases and forced another pitching change, as Morris was replaced by Spears.

Thompson gave Spears an unpleasant welcome by getting a two-run single to make it 13-8.

A strikeout ended the inning, but eight runs were scored, including four with two outs.

“The kids did a good job of staying in the game,” said Carl Junction coach Flave Darnell. “We were down by three and we took advantage of a few walks. Then, the grand slam, that was a big hit and then we had some big two-out hits.”

Post 392 had a chance to tie the game in the top of the ninth inning and made things interesting, down by five runs.

Clark singled and moved to third base on Alex Arntfield’s double. Pearcy hit an infield single to score Clark and put runners on the corners with no outs. With one out, Trevor Speagle drew a walk to load the bases.

However, Eddy, who entered on the mound in the eighth inning, got a strikeout and a grounder to end the game.