PRAIRIE VILLAGE — After reaching the Class 2-1A state tournament the past two years, the Crest High baseball team came up just short of their third straight appearance when they fell in a regional championship game Wednesday.
The Lancers (20-1) recovered in the first game against Pleasant Ridge by scoring six of their seven runs in the final three innings for a 7-1 victory. When Crest stacked up with Kansas City Christian, they never led in the 3-2 loss.
Pleasant Ridge — 7-1 win
Crest went down by one run in the first inning but that’s all the advantage Pleasant Ridge would have when the Lancers scored one run in the third, three in the fourth and three more in the sixth in a 7-1 victory.
Trevor Church started on the mound for the Mustangs and went six innings, allowing only one run on two hits, both of which came in the first inning. Jack White closed the game on the mound in the seventh by sitting down three Pleasant Ridge batters in a row.
Drake Duncan singled and scored on an error hit by Austin Green two batters later in the top of the first for Pleasant Ridge’s brief 1-0 lead.
Crest responded with their first run in the bottom of the third inning when Ryan Golden reached on an error and later scored on a White RBI single to knot the game at 1-1.
Rogan Weir then doubled to right field and scored on a Jensen Barker RBI single in the fourth while Avery Blaufuss was hit by a pitch and scored on a fielder’s choice hit by Golden for the 3-1 lead. Logan Kistner scored on a White sac fly.
The Lancers put the finishing touches on their win in the sixth when J. Barker was hit by a pitch and scored on a Golden RBI double for the 5-1 lead. Golden scored on an error hit by Church for the 6-1 edge and Church scored on a Stetson Setter RBI double to make it 7-1.
Crest had seven hits, led by Church’s two hits while White and Golden each drove home a team-high two runs and J. Barker, Church and Setter each knocked home one run.
Kansas City Christian — 3-2 loss
Crest could never secure the lead against Kansas City Christian, which scored one run in the second inning, another in the fifth and a final run in the seventh for the 3-2 victory.
Setter was good on the mound for the Lancers but Crest’s bats were slow to come alive.
Kansas City Christian went ahead in the top of the second inning when Daniel Haivala tripled and later scored on an Owen Alexander RBI single to left field for Crest’s 1-0 deficit.
Crest brought their first run home in the fourth when Setter singled to left and then scored on a passed ball to knot the game at 1-1.
