Not a single soul on the Platte County baseball team (27-8) was alive the last time the Pirates brought home a state title, but the 22-man roster solidified their legacies when a 6-1 victory over Festus (27-9) proceeded with Platte County lifting the Class 5 State Championship plaque at US Baseball Park on June 4.
The Platte County baseball team celebrates with a dog pile on the pitchers mound in the aftermath of the Pirates first state title in 20 years when they defeated Festus 6-1 in the Class 5 State Championship on June 4.
It was a special season for Platte County, with numerous records and unforgettable moments, but none were greater or more significant than the closing seconds of the final Missouri high school contest of 2022. When the Pirates held a five-run lead with two outs and a 1-2 count in the bottom of the seventh inning, senior Sawyer Allen hurled the last pitch of the season which soared across home plate to give Festus its third out and Platte County emerged as state champions for the first time since winning the Class 3 Championship in 2002.
“It’s so surreal, it really hasn’t settled in yet,” Platte County head coach John Sipes said in the aftermath of the Class 5 State Championship Game. “I understand that we won, but all of the stress and everything that led up to this moment has me a little overwhelmed, but it’s just a super awesome feeling.”
Allen had a busy weekend, starting on the mound in both the semifinals and championship games, and combined for 12 strikeouts. The senior was on a strict pitch count in the 5-3 triumph over Ft. Zumwalt East (23-11) in the Class 5 Semifinals – so strict that he was pulled after exactly 29 pitches – so that Allen could pitch for four innings in the championship, which included coming into the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with one out on the board.
“I came out and my arm was a little tired, but when I came back in the game in the seventh inning, I felt better than ever,” Platte County senior Sawyer Allen said. “I knew right when I threw that last pitch that it was going to be strike three; I just felt it and I threw it.”
Kole Jenks and Brett Domann look at the state championship plaque at US Baseball Park in Ozark, MO.
After the opening three innings of the championship went scoreless, Platte County senior Jake Knudsen connected with a hard ground ball to left field to send Nick Baker home to end the nil-nil tie. Allen was on the mound for the first three innings and started the fourth inning but was pulled after the bases were loaded with one out.
Brayden Carter came in to relieve Allen and the Tigers’ next batter hit a pop-fly to center field. Devin Wassmann caught it and immediately flung it to home plate to Knudsen who tagged the Festus runner just in time to complete the double-play and close out the inning with a 1-0 margin.
“That was huge; I saw that it was pretty deep out there and Devin threw the rocket out there and we got it down,” Platte County catcher Jake Knudsen said. “That was a great shot by him and that was a great team effort because that’s another run, and you have to finish the inning off.”
Platte County senior Sawyer Allen throws his fists in the air and fell on his back after hurling the game-winning strike in the Class 5 State Championship.
After another scoreless inning in the fifth, Jordan Hedrick connected on a base hit to right field for the Pirates as Baker and Eli Nelson scored on the play. Carter struck out a pair of Tiger batters in the bottom of the sixth inning and then the Pirates erupted for three more runs in the top of the seventh inning to go up 6-0.
“That’s the way these guys are, we have an approach and a mentality offensively that we’re trying to get over. They just hung with it and it final broke open for us,” Sipes said.
Four Pirates had a single in the seventh inning and Baker had a sacrifice fly to send Cameron Lewis home. Platte County lucked out when Nelson hit a ground ball to the Tigers’ pitcher who made a bad throw to third base, and two more runners crossed home plate.
“It’s always good to help out, to help get the energy up to get people to score,” Platte County junior Nick Baker said. “Once we got the energy up, everybody keeps getting hype.”
Festus responded with three hits to open the final inning when Allen came back in to close out the game. Allen struck out the last two Tiger batters to lead Platte County – and its nine seniors – to a championship victory.
“This is the best senior class I’ve ever coached by far; they were the best leaders and motivators. I didn’t have to do much in terms of coaching in the aspect of the dugout, the seniors just took over. It was like having 10 assistant coaches, and they all stepped up in huge ways,” Sipes said.
Eli Nelson imprints his fingerprint on the Class 5 State Plaque at US Baseball Park in Ozark, MO.
Unlike the championship contest when the Pirates never trailed, the semifinal game didn’t start off too smoothly as Ft. Zumwalt East took a 2-0 lead in the opening inning. Knudsen had a 2-RBI single in the bottom of the second inning to tie the contest and help Platte County regain momentum.
The catcher scored when Dayne Wimberly grounded out to give the Pirates their first lead of the game. Platte County never looked back, adding two more runs in the ensuing inning, to punch a ticket to the state game.
“We’re never out of it, it’s been like that all year. We just keep fighting until we win,” Baker said.
Platte County started the season off slow, losing four of its first six games, but it didn’t falter. As the season progressed, the Pirates kept improving to ultimately lock the top-seed in the Class 5 District 8 Tournament and then rattled off nine straight wins to cap off the year with a championship.
“I think the biggest thing that kept this team going was passion, we had so much passion throughout the season that if someone fell down or lost the energy there would be someone else there to pick them up. We would just bounce that energy off one another and we had great team chemistry as well, which was a big key to success,” Knudsen said.
The Pirates say goodbye to a talented group of seniors – Ben Spence, Landon Fulk, Brett Domann, Kole Jenks, Kyle Box, Knudsen, Lewis, Nelson and Allen – who missed out on their sophomore campaigns due to COVID-19. Platte County went 62-28 in the 2022 seniors’ career, and the Pirates will look to bring this year’s success into 2023.