For a number of reasons, the first 3½ innings of yesterday’s Hickman’s 8-2 victory over Boonville in the fifth-place game in the Kewpie Classic will never be aired on ESPN Classic. A lack of effort was not one of those.

On a day featuring unseasonably warm temperatures, the suffocating onlookers silently watched solid, if unspectacular, play by both sides. For their parts, Hickman’s Taylor Cowan and Boonville’s Sidney Schneider had the offenses trading zeros: Boonville never threatened, and Hickman never carried through.

Maybe the teams — each of which entered with 17 wins — had dreamed of more than settling for a loser’s bracket matchup. Maybe it was just good pitching keeping the action in check.

But when the bottom of the fourth inning rolled around, the bats woke up and a considerably more vibrant game was being played.

That’s when Boonville — the designated home team — played a little small-ball, bunting runners around before getting a two-run single from sophomore Maria Imhoff to start the scoring.

The Kewpies were quick to answer. When singles by Shelby Leyden, Laura Miller and Cowan set the Kewpies up for a big inning, they capitalized.

After Katherine Steponovich reached on an error, the Kewpies put the pressure on with back-to-back squeeze plays. The bunts, by Whitney Grathwohl and Katlyn Britt, were superbly executed. Boonville’s reactions were lacking — neither play left a realistic chance of getting the runner at home, but Schneider tried anyway.

Before it was all over, the Kewpies had scored six runs and Boonville Coach Mark Harvey was having flashbacks.

“She knew what happened last time, and I think they were going to give it a shot again,” Harvey said of their game last year, when Hickman Coach

Courtney Haskell had resorted to pressuring the Pirates into making mistakes. “Kind of the same thing happened. We helped them out.” Haskell said she was just trying to get her team started, and putting the ball in play was one way to do it. If Boonville made mistakes, all the better.

“Once Boonville made a mistake, they kept pounding,” Haskell said. “Our kids hit the ball, we bunted well. Our kids took advantage of their mistakes.”

Despite their errors, the Pirates battled back, loading the bases in the top of the fifth before a runner’s-interference call on a grounder to shortstop ended the inning. When the Boonville crowed raged at the call and ignored multiple warnings from the umpiring crew, it also ended Harvey’s day.

With his team down 6-2, Harvey was ejected, and the Pirates (17-5) never got going again.

After padding their lead with two more runs on consecutive singles by Miller, Cowan, and Steponovich, time ran out on the Pirates to come back. Hickman (18-2) left with fifth place, and an 8-2 victory.

Still, Harvey, who watched the remainder of the game from down the right-field line, was anything but displeased.

“Our girls did a good job of battling through the whole game. They didn’t get down. They didn’t give up,” Harvey said. “Our goal coming in here was getting better, and I think we did that. We played great competition, and hopefully we can make a run here at the end.”

Hickman beat Troy 9-0 earlier in the day. Blue Springs beat Jefferson City in the championship game to win the tournament.

Advertisement

Get your brain and body in shape. Food Wednesdays, Pulse Sundays and Sports daily. 13 weeks of everyday delivery for as little as 29¢ a day. Get the Tribune. Get a lot.