O'FALLON - The Fatima Comets accomplished two things Monday.
They clinched at least a .500 season, and they sealed a berth in the Class 3 state championship game.
"How about that?" Fatima coach Brian Bax said after the Comets defeated the No. 10 Saxony Lutheran Crusaders 14-2 in six innings in the Class 3 state semifinals at CarShield Field.
"I'm the type of coach that I want to play a lot of kids. We played probably 16, 17 kids at least halfway through the year to see everything that we have, make sure that we had the right pieces in the right places, and I haven't been worried about the record. I knew we had a caliber team that could get here."
Fatima (15-14) will play No. 9 Blair Oaks (22-11) in the Class 3 state title game at 1:30 p.m. today. Blair Oaks defeated Montgomery County 4-2 in Monday's second semifinal game.
The Comets scored at least one run in five of the six innings against the Crusaders, and an eight-run sixth inning ended the game early by run-rule.
The first 10 batters reached base for Fatima in the top of the sixth.
"In those situations, I think about the times where our guys would be a little bit undisciplined and get us right out of that inning," Bax said. "We stayed away from that today and really put the pressure on them. That was the game right there."
Fatima used good baserunning to get its first two runs of the game. In the first, Jaden Hoskins drew a walk, stole second base and went to third on a wild pitch. He then scored on Gage Bax's two-out infield single.
In the second, Dean Hagenhoff took off for second on an early steal attempt and was caught in a rundown. He stayed in the rundown long enough to allow Trey Herzing to scored from third base, giving the Comets a 2-0 lead.
"As soon as the first baseman started going (toward second base) and was about to release the ball, (Trey) was able to make it," Bax said.
A sacrifice bunt that resulted in an error plated another run, and a sacrifice fly by Gage Bax scored Austin Wegman in the third, doubling the Comets' lead to 4-0.
That was enough run support for Fatima's Austin Troesser, who had another stellar outing on the mound this postseason.
Troesser went the distance for the Comets, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits. He also walked three and struck out six.
Brian Bax said Fatima's big sixth inning was crucial, because it allowed Troesser to finish the game and save Fatima's pitching for today's championship game.
"The offense was on fire today," Troesser said. "They just wouldn't stop, they kept hitting the ball."
Troesser threw first-pitch strikes to 21 of the 27 batters he faced.
"I'm just trying to focus on doing my job: throwing strikes and letting the defense work," he said. "I'm not trying to do too much, and I felt like earlier in the season I was trying to do too much."
Fatima failed to score in the fourth, but the Comets added two more runs in the fifth. After a single by Wegman, Josef Keilzholz hit a single into right field. Wegman, who was stealing on the pitch, advanced to third base on what was a perfect hit-and-run.
But was the hit-and-run sign on?
"It was just a straight steal," said Keilholz, who struck out looking in his first two at-bats and swung at the first pitch in his third trip to the plate. "In my head, I said, 'I need to hit the ball.' I struck out and I was getting behind, and if that first pitch was there, I was going to go for it."
Wegman and Keilholz both scored on a single by Gage Cunningham to right field, extending the Comets' lead to 6-0.
In the sixth, only three of Fatima's first 10 batters to reach base had hits. The Comets drew two walks and had three hit-batsmen. Cunningham also reached on a fielder's choice and Wyatt Luebbert reached on an error.
"Once you find out the pitcher isn't going to be throwing strikes all the time, you have to be patient and you have to find your pitch to hit," Keilholz said. "That's all we did."
Saxony Lutheran starting pitcher Eli Brown went 4 innings and struck out seven batters before he was relieved by Tanner King. The Crusaders used three pitchers - King, Kaleb Kiefer and Will LeDure - to get through the top of the sixth.
"Once we had a couple of strikes, it was nice that we kept extending those at-bats," Bax said. "The more pitches, the better, especially in a contest where the other team has a really good pitcher. If we can get to that second one, as we saw happen today, this time of year is when you can really do your damage."
Fatima finished the game with nine hits. Wegman, Keilholz and Gage Bax each had two singles. Hoskins had the team's only extra-base hit with a double down the left-field line in the third inning.
Hunter Bilek went 2-for-2 for Saxony Lutheran with a single and a triple in the fifth, scoring Luke Richmond. Bilek scored later in the inning on an error to cut Fatima's lead to 6-2.
Saxony Lutheran (22-4) will play Montgomery County (17-9) in the Class 3 third-place game at 11 a.m. today.
Fatima will get a rematch against Blair Oaks to decide the Class 3 state championship. The Falcons went on the road April 18 to beat the Comets 7-2.
In the regular-season matchup, Blair Oaks pitched David Dell against Fatima's Gage Bax. Today, the Falcons will have Parker Bax on the mound, while Fatima will go with Keilholz.
"We wanted to play Blair Oaks," said Brian Bax, who is Parker Bax's third-cousin. " I'm best friends with most of their coaching staff.
"It will be really great for us two to go at it, and it's going to be a great game."
This will be Fatima's fifth state championship game appearance, having won a Class 2A title in 1992 and Class 3 titles in 2013 and 2015.
It certainly has been an uplifting season for Brian Bax, who is in his first year as head coach at Fatima. The Comets started the season losing nine of their first 12 games, but now they're one win from the program's fourth state title.
"I would give the credit to the previous coaches," Bax said. "Our parents do an amazing job in Mid-Missouri. It makes my job a lot easier that our guys know baseball from a young age."