North Callaway, Cunningham walk-off Montgomery County 7-6

The North Callaway hitters saw a lot of pitches in the seventh inning on Thursday at home.

The Thunderbirds sent seven betters to the plate in the seventh inning that they began by trailing Eastern Missouri Conference foe Montgomery County 6-3, and all seven batters saw a 3-2 count before CJ Cunningham hit a game-winning RBI single for a 7-6 victory. They clinched at least a share of the conference championship with the win.

Carson Bassett, Keaton Bell and Carter Moore all walked to load the bases and then Caleb Sheets drew a bases-loaded walk for a 6-4 game. Tucker Sheets’ fielder's choice scored a run to make it 6-5 Montgomery County (9-5, 4-2 EMO) and Lucas Yelton scored the tying run on a passed ball. North Callaway (12-1, 8-0 EMO) only needed Cunningham’s hit to score the necessary four runs.

Cunningham finished 2-for-4 with one RBI one night after being the winning pitcher in two shutout innings of relief in a 10-0 victory at Mark Twain. Caleb Sheets had two RBIs, and Bell went 2-for-3 with two runs and one RBI. Bell also pitched three shutout innings to start the game and was taken out early to save his arm for a tournament in California over the weekend.

Thunderbirds runner-up in California Tournament

North Callaway’s six-game winning streak ended while playing for a championship on Saturday.

The Thunderbirds lost to Class 4 No. 6 Fulton 10-0 in five innings after finishing with five hits in the championship game of the California Tournament. North Callaway advanced to the championship game after beating School of the Osage 8-0 and California 5-4.

North Callaway (14-2) had 12 hits against Osage and had six innings pitched from Carter Moore with eight strikeouts, four walks and three hits. Caleb Sheets went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a double, Chance Green went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, Carson Bassett finished 2-for-4 with one RBI, Keaton Bell went 1-for-3 with one RBI and Coltyn O’Neal finished 2-for-4 with a triple.

In the next game, the Thunderbirds came back from down 4-2 after California scored two runs in the sixth inning by responding with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. After North Callaway loaded the bases in the sixth, California uncorked three wild pitches to score the three runs. Moore had two RBIs, O’Neal went 2-for-3 and Bell pitched seven innings with eight strikeouts, five hits, three walks and one earned run. 

North Callaway hosts Silex (6-5, 6-2 EMO) at 5 p.m. Thursday.