Crowder Defeats Jefferson College to Claim the Region 16 Tournament Championship
JOPLIN, MO — The Crowder Roughriders defeated Jefferson College, 14-8, to claim the Region 16 Tournament Championship.
Crowder led from start to finish and got off to a fast start after scoring 7 runs in the first two innings.
Brock Bearden had a big day going 3-for-3 with 3 RBI’s and one home-run. Cole Kitchens also had a big day going 3-for-5 with 3 RBI’s.
Jason Avila had two RBI’s. Joey Morton, Kolton Reynolds and Ethan Fender each had an RBI.
Jackson Murry earned the win after striking out 5 batters in 5.1 innings pitched. Austin Jobe picked up two strikeouts in two innings.
Kolton Reynolds was named the Region 16 Player of the Year while Head Coach Travis Lallemand was named the Region 16 Coach of the Year.
Here’s post-game from Reynolds, Kitchens and Head Coach Travis Lallemand!
Reynolds said, “We never stress about anything. We’ve been down before throughout the whole year, down 10-0 early in the season, came back and won it. I mean, nothing like, we prepare all season for it. It starts with fall. First day of fall gets us prepared and then it goes on from there”.
Kitchens said, “We’ve been working for it since August and you know, it’s just day in and day out, preparing for it. I mean, six, 7 hours a day. But I say a little bit of stuff that helped me out was I mean, everyone else on the team, in my opinion. I mean, even if I have a bad at bat, come in, get hyped up by the guys in the dugout, and I go up and perform a lot better than what I would if I didn’t have them”.
Coach Lallemand said, “A win in this means you get to keep playing. And that’s what we wanted, you know, came into this week and, you know, we scuffled a little bit early in the season and just kept building and building, building and putting pieces together in the bullpen. Obviously, that’s what picked us up here and the offense is really, really dangerous. So it’s hard to keep us down offensively. And if we can keep that going, might be able to play for a while”.
Crowder will now advance to the Midwest District Championships where they will face Seminole State for a best-of-3 game series. Game one will be Friday at 3:00. Game two will be Saturday at 3 and Game three will be Sunday at 1.
