Suburban South Roundup: Bats Going Cold For U. City

It has been a crazy season on the diamond for Suburban South Conference baseball teams.

Not a single one of the eight teams in the league entered play this week with a winning overall record. Seckman and Parkway West, which play each other Thursday at Parkway West, share the conference lead with 2-0 marks.

Seckman, which is 6-8 overall, did win a pair of games last week. The Jaguars used separate big innings for wins over Northwest and Webster Groves. Seckman had an eight-run fifth inning and a four-run seventh in a 12-5 nonconference win over Northwest on Wednesday. The Jaguars followed that with a four-run second inning in a 6-5 victory over Webster in a league game last Thursday. The Jaguars needed a run in the seventh inning to break a 5-5 tie.

Parkway West also used a big inning in its 6-3 conference win over Parkway North last Thursday. The Longhorns scored four times in the sixth inning. Parkway West was coming off of a heartbreaking 8-7 loss to Francis Howell Central on Wednesday. The Spartans, who are 13-3 overall, scored twice in the seventh inning for the come-from-behind victory. Ed Pilgrim had a pair of hits, including a double, and two RBI in the losing cause for Parkway West.

Kirkwood's T.J. McCoy had a day to remember in the Pioneers’ extra-inning victory over University City last Thursday. McCoy had four hits, all of them doubles, in a 9-7 win in eight innings over the Lions. McCoy scored a run and drove in two. Kirkwood pitchers Ryan Bearden and Griffin Goodrich combined for 14 strikeouts in the game. The win moved Kirkwood to 2-1 in the conference and 6-7 overall.

The bats have slowed down for University City, which fell to 1-2 in the league and 7-9 overall. The Lions had a five-game winning streak early in the season in which they scored 60 runs during those five victories. The loss to Kirkwood was the Lions’ third in a row, and they scored just 12 runs in that span.

Kevin Phillips and Daryus Small have been bright spots for University City. Phillips leads the Suburban South with a .500 batting average while Small is the co-leader in home runs with four along with Peter Fairbanks of Webster Groves.

The Statesmen hope to be out of a prolonged hitting slump. Webster, which has lost five consecutive games and nine out of its past 10, was shutout in three straight games recently. But Webster, which is 1-2 in the league and 2-13 overall, has scored 11 runs in its past two games, including five in a loss against Seckman last Thursday.

Parkway Central and Rockwood Summit are teams which are still looking for their first wins of the conference season.

Parkway Central is 2-12 overall, but played one of its best games of the season last Monday, falling to Lindbergh, 3-2. The Colts took a 2-1 lead into the sixth inning but the Flyers scored twice and held on for the win. Lucas Mueller had a great game in defeat for Parkway Central. He allowed only four hits in 5 1/3 innings, while striking out six and walking only one. He also had a pair of hits at the plate.

Summit is 4-12 overall, and has lost both of its Suburban South contests. The Falcons have been extremely competitive of late as they have lost their past three games by a combined four runs.

Summit fell to Francis Howell Central, 8-7, on April 14. The Falcons fell to Marquette, 4-2, on April 18 and then lost to St. Charles West 9-8 on April 20. The loss to St. Charles West was especially tough to take as Summit led 7-2 after four innings. St. Charles West scored two in the seventh to take the game to extra innings and then scored once in the seventh.

Suburban South Girls Soccer

Parkway West took over the lead in the conference in girls soccer with a 1-0 win over Rockwood Summit on Thursday in a battle of unbeaten league squads. Amber Manwill scored the lone goal of the game, her eighth of the season, while Meghan Dolan recorded her seventh shutout this season. Dolan has a 0.76 goals against average.

It was the first time that Summit has been shutout this season in 12 games. The Falcons opened the season with seven straight wins and nine wins in their first 10 games. They lost to Cor Jesu, 4-1, last Tuesday prior to the loss against Parkway West.

Webster Groves, which leads the conference with 13 overall wins, got three goals from Stevie Wunderlich and two from Annie Paloucek in a 5-1 conference win over Seckman last Tuesday. Wunderlich scored two more in a 3-1 nonconference win over Clayton on Thursday, giving her 12 goals to go along with 12 assists for the season.

Summit and Webster Groves are both 2-1 in the league behind the 2-0 mark by Parkway West. Seckman is 3-2.

Four conference teams are involved in big tournaments this week. Summit and Parkway West are in the St. Dominic/Francis Howell North Shootout, which runs from April 26-30, while Seckman and Webster are in the CYC/Joseph Carenza Tournament which is from April 25-30.

Suburban South Volleyball

Webster, Parkway West and Kirkwood are all undefeated in the league in boys volleyball. Webster and Parkway West have combined for 27 wins against just three losses. They battle each other Monday at Parkway West.