7/6/2009

Flat Falcons finish with a thud

By LARRY MORITZ

Salina Journal

Getting runners on base wasn't a problem for the Salina Pestinger Falcons on the final day of Kansas Grand Slam Tournament.

Getting them off the bases and across home plate proved considerably more difficult.

The Falcons wrapped up the 19th annual holiday tourney with back-to-back losses Sunday, giving up a late lead in a 4-3 loss to Olathe East, then giving up 15 runs in the final two innings in a 20-2 loss to the Midwest Bruins.

Salina left 23 runners on base in the two games, including 17 in scoring position, as the tournament that began with considerably high hopes ended with considerable frustration.

"I don't know what we can take from this tournament," Falcons coach Ryan Kolzow said. "Putting it behind us is about all we can do."

The Falcons finished the four-day tournament with a 1-4 record, including a pair of one-run losses. They had leads of 3-0 in two of their losses and were ahead 2-0 in another.

"We have a lot of talent on this team but haven't been able to put anything together," said Kolzow, whose team now stands at 12-12. "We're playing with a real lack of intensity right now and baseball is a tough, tough sport to play without emotion."

Sunday morning's loss to Olathe East typified the Falcons weekend. Their first three batters in the game reached safely and eventually scored, one on a passed ball and two on a wild pitch.

The rest of the game was a series of missed opportunities. Salina left 13 runners on base in the seven-inning game, including 10 in scoring position. They finished 1 for 8 with two outs and runners at second or third.

"We did what we've done the whole tournament," Kolzow said. "We came out and scored early, but then we go from having a good approach at the plate to having a poor one and don't score after the first."

Olathe East did manage to come up with the key hits with two outs, particularly in its late-inning rally. The Hawks strung together three consecutive two-out hits in the fifth to pull within one run, then got back-to-back RBI singles with two outs in the sixth from Danny Lorenzen and Cole Tompkins to take their first lead.

Salina left eight runners on base against Midwest through the first five innings, while it was still a relatively close game. The Falcons trailed 5-0 heading into the sixth, and were 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position at that point.

"It was the same thing," Kolzow said. "No timely hits. We hung in there for five or six innings and then couldn't throw the ball over the plate and made some errors."

Midwest led 8-0 and was one out away from ending the game by the run rule in the sixth inning, but Conner Martin's two-out RBI single enabled the Falcons to avoid being shut out for the first time this season.

That might not necessarily have been a good thing. Given an extra inning, Midwest sent 18 men to the plate and scored 12 runs in the seventh. The Bruins had only four hits, but were aided by seven walks, three errors and had one batter hit by a pitch.

The Falcons used three pitchers in the inning, but only three of the 12 runs were earned.

Martin and Levi Debold had two hits each against Midwest and Debold finished the tournament as the Falcons offensive leader, hitting .636 (7 of 11). No Salina player had more than one hit against Olathe East, though Brett Callahan reached safely three times with a walk and twice hit by a pitch.

Scoreboard

SUNDAY'S RESULTS

AAA DIVISION

Round-Robin Play

Midwest Bruins 7, Air Academy 0

Olathe East 4, Salina Falcons 3

Midwest Bruins 20, Salina Falcons 2

Olathe East 4, Air Academy 1

Championship

Midwest Bruins 12, Olathe East 4.

A DIVISION

Semifinals

Manhattan Manko 5, KC Varsity 2

Blue Valley 2, Great Bend 1

Championship

Manhattan Manko 2, Blue Valley 1

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