SOFTBALL: Pete's Blues win at Kelso, Falcons return 1-3
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Kelso, Missouri played host to the 27th Annual Kelso Klassic fastpitch softball tournament this past weekend, and tournament history was made as the Memphis Firebirds came all the way from the loser's bracket to make the final round and force a playoff with Pete's Blues (Mascoutah, IL) for their tenth game in three days.
Pete's Blues came away the eventual winner, however, leaving the Firebirds 8-2 at Kelso. Memphis forced a second game in the finals by squeaking out a 3-2 decision in game one, but couldn't create the offense they needed in the second game, falling 5-1.
Memphis' Aaron Fultz drove in the game-winner to force the second game, a two-out RBI single that plated Jeff Fletcher in the fourth. Bob Branhof went the first three innings for the Firebirds, allowing both runs. Tim Tummins, in the Kelso tournament's top ten in career strikeouts and innings pitched, closed it out with four scoreless frames.
Since Pete's hadn't lost prior to facing Memphis, there was more softball to be played. The same pitching combination of Branhof and Tummins tried to do it again in game two, but the Blues were able to bang out four hits in the third inning to grab a 5-0 lead. Adam Perkins had homered in the second for the game's first run.
Fultz drove in Isaac Peete for the Redbirds only run in the fifth, and Memphis ran out of gas against Blues' starter Jeramie Holman, who struck out ten.
Pete's Blues finished 5-1 to claim their first ever Kelso Klassic after a previous best finish of second place in 2008.
Perry County's lone entry, the Pinckneyville (Lee's Sports) Falcons, found themselves in the loser's bracket on Saturday after running into tournament legend Terry Luster in Friday night's opening game for both the Falcons and Luster's St. Louis Bullits.
Luster, fifth in career strikeouts as a pitcher at the Klassic, fanned four in a row on two separate occasions as the Bullits shut out Pinckneyville 2-0, spoiling a solid pitching effort from Bryant Hale. Luster picked up his 17th career win at Kelso (9th all-time).
The Falcons took on Altamont Home Center on Saturday and looked to have rebounded from the tight loss the night before, building an 11-4 lead headed into the bottom of the fifth inning. That's when Lyle Winter lost his command, and suddenly what appeared to be a short-game win for Pinckneyville turned into a battle.
Altamont scrapped out four in the fifth to keep the game going, then homered twice off of Hale in the sixth to tie it up. A walk followed by a wild pitch set up the game winning single by Adam Grobengieser in the seventh.
Haven Hicks (2-4, 2 3B, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB), Eric Saunders (2-4, 3B, R, 3 RBI, BB) and Chaz Reeves (2-4, R) each had two hits in the game for Pinckneyville. Hale (1-2, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB), Adam Barczewski (1-2, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB), Ricky Kasban (1-2, R, RBI, SAC, BB), Derek Beninati (1-2, 2 R, SAC, BB, HBP) and Hayden Hicks (1-3, RBI, BB) also pitched in offensively.
Needing a win to stay alive, the Falcons turned to pitcher John Kiselewski in the circle, and the right-hander didn't disappoint.
Kiselewski fired a five-inning no-hitter and went 2-for-3 (2B, RBI) at the plate in Pinckneyville's 7-0 shutout of West End Tavern (Altenburg, MO).
Saunders (2-4, HR, 2 RBI) and Haven Hicks (2-4, R) remained hot at the plate, each netting a pair of hits. Mason Woodside (2-4, 2 R, RBI) also had two base hits.
The homer for Saunders was his seventh career blast at the Klassic, good for fifth place all-time.
A pair of walks was all that stood between Kiselewski and perfection on the rubber. He fanned seven, including all three West End Tavern batters he faced in the third inning.
Kiselewski was called upon again in the Falcons' third game on Saturday, but couldn't match his efforts from a few hours earlier.
The Falcons built a 6-0 lead only to see it slip away as their bats went quiet in the late innings, falling 8-6 at the hands of Kreke Tree Service (Teutopolis, IL). The loss eliminated Pinckneyville from the tournament with a mark of 1-3.
Kiselewski fell to 12-7 as a starting pitcher in his career at the Kelso Klassic, allowing ten hits while striking out ten Kreke batters.
Saunders (2-4), Woodside (2-4, 2 RBI), and Beninati (2-3) each had a multi-hit effort on offense. Kiselewski (1-4), Haven Hicks (1-4, RBI), Lyle Winter (1-3) and Hayden Hicks (1-3) also reached base with hits.
The Falcons (21-11) return to action this Wednesday in Pinckneyville, hosting Makanda for a 7:15 p.m. doubleheader.
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