SULLIVAN, Mo. - It didn't seem as if the Class 4 District 9 championship game had an end in sight. Then, in a flash, it was over.
After nine consecutive scoreless innings, the Blair Oaks Falcons finally pushed a run across the plate in the top of the 16th inning, but the Helias Crusaders were able to score twice in the bottom half. Zach Stiles scored from third base on a walk-off wild pitch with one out to give Helias a 5-4 win Tuesday at Bank of Sullivan Ball Park.
"The way we won it, that's baseball," Helias coach Chris Wyrick said. "But it always feels good to win a championship."
The game, which lasted just shy of four hours, was the third meeting between Helias and Blair Oaks this season. Helias won the first two meetings, including a walk-off victory in the second contest, but in just seven innings.
With the game tied at 3 entering the 16th inning, Blair Oaks scored the game's first run since the bottom of the sixth. Ethan Rackers tagged from second base and advanced to third on Ryan Paschal's flyout to right field. Rackers then darted for home on an overthrow to third base, sliding in safely to give the Falcons a 4-3 advantage.
"It was a huge run, but we gotta come out in the bottom of the 16th and throw strikes," Blair Oaks coach Travis Henke said. "We have to play our best defense in that inning once we got up a run, and we didn't necessarily do that."
Jeremiah Heckman started the inning with a single for Helias, but he was thrown out advancing to third on Nick Brandt's single to right field for the first out.
It was the fifth time Helias had lost a baserunner at third base during the game.
"We were all trying to do too much," Wyrick said of the missed opportunities to take the extra base. "When you try to do too much and it doesn't succeed, you're like, 'I should have backed off.' But we showed pretty good resilience."
Stiles then stepped to the plate, hitless in his first seven plate appearances. Helias' leadoff hitter finally came through with a single to center field, putting the tying run in Brandt at third base.
"1-for-8 is better than 0-for-8," Stiles said with a smile.
Trevor Austin was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for the Crusaders. Then, as Blair Oaks pitcher Colton Hoelscher attempted to step off the mound before a pitch to Matt Dampf, he was called for a balk, allowing Brandt to score the tying run.
Hoelscher's next delivery was inside to Dampf and made its way to the backstop, allowing Stiles to score the winning run as he slid under Hoelscher's tag.
"The pitcher was in the windup, so I was getting a big secondary (lead) off third," Stiles said. "Once I saw that ball get past the catcher, I just kept going."
Tuesday's game saw each starting pitcher exit due to pitch-count limit, followed by impressive relief appearances on each side.
Helias starter Tyler Cassmeyer went eight innings on 105 pitches. He allowed three runs on six hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
Freshman Trevor Austin then pitched five-plus scoreless innings, scattering five hits and striking out six.
"You've got a 14- or 15-year-old kid out there playing against some monsters on the other side," Wyrick said. "He didn't back down."
Connor McKenna was the winning pitcher for Helias, going the final three innings.
But Thomas Verslues had the most impressive relief appearance of them all.
The Blair Oaks senior entered the game in the bottom of the sixth after Helias tied the game at 3. He took over for Tyler Swehla, who pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
Verslues would pitch 9 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out four.
Earlier this season, Verslues pitched 9 1/3 scoreless innings of relief in Blair Oaks' 16-inning loss to Battle.
"We could have thrown Thomas 20 innings tonight and he would've been fine," Henke said.
Verslues also made one of the biggest plays of the game in the third inning, catching a flyball down the line in right field and then firing a strike from 200 feet away to third base to throw out Dampf for a double play to end the inning.
"It was a laser to third," Henke said. "Then Tyler Swehla comes up later in the game and does the same thing."
But defensive struggles at times proved costly for both teams.
Helias scored its first run of the game on an error in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1.
After Blair Oaks had a sacrifice fly from Garrett Welschmeyer in the top of the first, the Falcons scored in the third on a throwing error, then added another run in the fifth on a fielding error to take a 3-1 lead.
Both teams combined to make 10 errors - six by Blair Oaks, four by Helias.
"To their credit, they took advantage of our mistakes," Wyrick said. "We didn't take advantage of theirs. They made six errors and we didn't take advantage of that."
But in extra innings, defense came up when it was necessary for both teams.
"I'm not sure how many double plays we had but it was a bunch," Henke said.
Blair Oaks (19-9) finished the game with 14 hits and left 15 runners on base, leaving the bases loaded in the 13th and 14th innings. Ethan Rackers, Verslues and Paschal each had three hits - all nine hits going for singles - and Rackers scored all four Blair Oaks runs. Jason Rackers and Bryce Kempker had two hits each.
Parker Schnieders had the only multi-hit game for Helias, going 3-for-7 with three singles.
Helias (17-6) will host District 10 champion Bolivar next Tuesday in the Class 4 sectionals at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex. The two teams met in last year's district championship game, which went 11 innings.
For now, though, Helias is getting a much-deserved break. Wyrick said he is giving his players a day off today before preparing for the Liberators and getting back to the fundamentals Thursday.
"We used up all nine of our lives tonight," Wyrick said, "but we're living to play another day."