Photo by Jordan Haiduk
Cole Starky (6) prepares to slide back into first after St Mars catches a pop fly during the Chase County St. Marys game for the 2-A state championship Friday, May 23.
After the final out, Chase County coach Jay Talkington took off his cap, then slowly scratched his head.
The puzzled, frustrated look seemed to sum up all the Bulldogs’ emotions after their 9-7 loss to St. Marys on Friday in the first round of the 2-1A State Baseball Tournament at Soden’s Grove.
“I’m just drained. Frankly, I’m just drained,” Talkington said. “I think the kids are, too. It wasn’t what we expected — we expected to play better.”
For the third consecutive year, Chase County had its State title hopes dashed by the St. Marys Bears.
All three of the losses came in the first round of the State Tournament.
“It’s hard to even think about right now. I’m just shocked,” Chase County senior Brian Palermo said. “I can’t believe we lost it again.”
“It doesn’t feel good. Not at all,” CCHS pitcher Shawn Talkington added. “That’s hard to swallow — three years in a row.”
Things started out well enough for the Bulldogs, as they took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a single by Cole Starkey, a triple by Palermo and an RBI groundout from Greg Davis.
The score would stay at 2-0 until the fourth, when CCHS started to give runs away.
After a walk to Gatlin Jacobsen, Shawn Talkington threw away a pickoff attempt to move Jacobsen all the way to third.
CCHS’s error was compounded by another one, as Kyle Hannigan’s throw back to the infield got away, allowing Jacobsen to score on the same play.
“If we don’t give them the first run and we can put another zero on the board, I really think that they start to question a little bit whether they can come back,” CCHS coach Jay Talkington said.
Instead, St. Marys built some confidence against Shawn Talkington, and it showed over the next two innings.
Talkington, who entered the game with a minuscule 0.17 earned-run average, struck out the side in the first and had seven strikeouts through four innings before starting to struggle in the fifth.
After a walk, Talkington allowed a triple, two singles and a double, as St. Marys built a 5-2 lead.
The Bulldogs would come right back.
Following a single from Shawn Talkington and a walk to Starkey, Palermo blasted a three-run home run into the trees in left field to tie the score at 5.
“The pitch was up a little bit, so I just turned on it,” Palermo said, “and it went.”
CCHS ended up being its own worst enemy again in the top of the sixth.
After getting a groundout, Talkington walked three consecutive batters before getting taken out of the game.
In his outing, the sophomore struck out eight but also walked eight.
“It was a lot of adrenaline,” Talkington said. “Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not. Today, it was both.”
Palermo came on in relief, but he struggled as well. After walking a batter and hitting another to force two runs in, Palermo allowed a two-run single to Adam Michels as St. Marys extended its lead to 9-5.
CCHS added two runs in the sixth on an RBI single from Talkington and a sacrifice fly by Starkey, but it wouldn’t be enough.
Palermo came up as the tying run later that inning, but he was intentionally walked before a flyout ended the threat.
The Bulldogs had nine walks to go along with three errors.
“We just continue to kill ourselves,” Jay Talkington said. “We made mistakes that gave them runs.”
Palermo, who came into the game hitting .632, went 2-for-3 with a home run, triple and four RBI.
“We can’t ask him to do a whole lot more than he did for us today,” Jay Talkington said. “That’s the kind of performance he’s had the whole season.”
Shawn Talkington added two hits and an RBI, while Starkey was 1-for-1 with two walks and two runs scored.
Chase County ended its season with a 20-2 record.
Class 2-1A State Baseball Tournament
Friday at Soden’s Grove
St. Marys 9, Chase County 7
St. Marys 000 144 0 — 9 9 2
Chase County 200 032 0 — 7 7 3
W — Derek Zemek. L — Shawn Talkington.
2B — SM: Taylor Holz. 3B — SM: Adam VandeVelde; CC: Brian Palermo. HR — CC: Brian Palermo.
Records — St. Marys 16-8, Chase County 20-2.
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