The Russellville Indians didn't come away with any wins at the Capital City Invitational, but they still feel they came away with a valuable learning experience.
Russellville finished the Invitational on Saturday with a 12-2 loss in six innings against Lutheran: St. Charles in the seventh-place game at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
"Everybody in this tournament is playing well," Russellville coach Lucas Branson said. "Our kids, they're continuing to try to put together a good approach at the plate. We're starting to put more balls in play, so that's a positive we'll take away from this game."
As they did Friday against Eureka, the Indians scored in the first inning against Lutheran: St. Charles.
Nick Thompson led off the game with a single into center field and scored on a two-out single to left field by Braden Hickey, giving Russellville a 1-0 lead.
"When you score early in the first inning, ideally you want to go out there and put up a zero to keep the momentum on your side," Branson said. "We just didn't come through there in the bottom of the first."
The Cougars answered with a five-run outburst in the bottom half of the inning, sending 10 batters to the plate.
Thompson relieved Russellville starter Trent Morrow in the second inning. Outside of a four-run third inning - all four runs were scored with two outs - Thompson kept Lutheran: St. Charles in check, finishing with six strikeouts and just two walks in 4 innings.
"Nick did an outstanding job," Branson said. "He showed a lot of heart getting out there on the mound. I didn't feel like he probably had his best stuff, but he made it work."
The Cougars had an opportunity to end the game by run- rule in the bottom of the fifth, but Thompson struck out Josh Barclay to end the inning and strand the game-ending run at third base.
"He made some good pitches in some pretty key spots to extend the game and give us a chance to come back there in the sixth," Branson said. "He got out of a tough jam there."
But after Russellville scored its final run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Matt Miller, the Indians couldn't regain the momentum.
Lutheran: St. Charles starting pitcher Mason Erhardt pitched a complete game, and while he only struck out two in six innings, he retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced to get the win.
The Cougars plated another run in the sixth inning with two outs to end the game early and take seventh place.
Russellville finished the game with six hits. Thompson also led the Indians at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and scored both their runs. Mason Stewart, Hickey, Riley Marcum and Ethan Huff each singled.
"I feel like we really competed today as good as we have over the past week," Branson said.
Morrow allowed five runs on four hits with one walk in the first inning to take the loss for the Indians.
Russellville (4-7) will play four games in three days next weekend as well, starting with a Show-Me Conference matchup Thursday at Linn.
Although the tournament resulted in an 0-4 finish for the Indians, Branson still feels like it prepared his team for a chance at a another district title next month.
"If we can make sure that we have our best effort and perfect effort on every play, this tournament probably opened their eyes," he said. "There's a lot of room for improvement, so we'll get back on the field in practice on Monday and go from there."