RUSSELLVILLE, Mo. - This year's edition of the Russellville Round Robin featuring host Russellville, School of Osage, Jamestown and Plato was essentially wiped out by Friday night's downpour.
While it was disappointing to see a slew of late season area matchups get cancelled, fans were treated to a thriller in the one game that ended up being played. Friday's would-be tournament opener between Osage and Russellville packed 25 runs and a weekend's worth of drama into just seven innings, and saw Russellville claim a 14-11 victory on home field.
With the game tied at two heading into the bottom of the fourth, Russellville put up six runs in the inning to take a commanding lead. The lead would be short-lived, however, as Osage answered with a seven-run fifth to go up 9-8.
But Russellville would recover in the bottom half thanks to Tyler Voss. With two outs and the score tied, the junior bashed a three-run dinger to stake Russellville to a 12-9 lead. The scoring didn't stop after that, but the lead changes did, and Russellville improved to 8-9 after its wildest win of the year.
"That was kind of a perfect example of how a lot of our games have gone this year," Russellville head coach Lucas Branson said. "We've made some mistakes throughout and I felt like tonight were able to minimize some of our mistakes."
"When you're able to answer a score from the previous inning that the other team puts up, the momentum obviously goes back on your side, so that was big."
In a game where the momentum changed more quickly than spring weather, it was Russellville who grabbed it initially thanks to a pair of Osage errors in the second inning. Trailing by one early, the miscues allowed Russellville to get its first couple baserunners of the day, and Branson's club didn't waste them as Cole Freeman and Adam Kennedy each knocked in a run to give Russellville a 2-1 lead.
It was the first response from Russellville, and of course, wouldn't be the last. That's not too surprising when you consider the team has spent this whole season playing in wild games.
"Our toughness level right now is probably the highest it's been all year," Branson said. "We've had some games where we wouldn't have come back and won that game like we did tonight. It's a positive sign that, as we head toward the final stretch of the season, we're finally getting to that point where I expect them to be at."
Freeman was the player to spark Russellville's big fourth inning when he singled and stole a base to leadoff the frame. When six straight Russellville hitters reached safely - four via base hit - the lead ballooned to six runs.
Osage's seven-run fifth was led by sophomores Austin Magneson and Drake Gaines. Magneson singled twice in the inning and came around to score once. His leadoff single was the first of six hits in the frame. Gaines, meanwhile, only had one plate appearance in the inning, but he certainly made it count. The shortstop clubbed a three-run shot, which at the time, gave Osage a one-run lead.
Though Voss's homer in the ensuing bottom half ended up being the game-winner, it took far more than just that one swing of the bat for Russellville to see out the win. Sixth inning singles from freshmen Chandler Miller and Nick Thompson helped put two insurance runs on the board for Russellville, and solid relief work in the final two frames from junior Cory Minor limited Osage to just two runs after its big fifth inning.
"We've got a lot of guys that are really starting to understand what their roles are," Branson said. "Whether they are a starting player hitting in the middle of the lineup or a bench player coming in to pinch hit or pinch run, they know what their jobs are and they accept that. They're all making sure we do whatever we have to as a team to win."
Though the round robin being cancelled won't give Russellville a chance to play in a final tournament before districts, the team is already starting to get in its postseason mindset. Russellville's district (Class 2 District 8) will feature Belle, Linn, Calvary Lutheran, Iberia, New Bloomfield and Vienna at New Bloomfield High School.
"We're going to do everything we can with what we have available to win that first game," Branson said.