Suburban West Roundup: Spring Postseason in Full Motion

Baseball
There was a lot of talk in the preseason among Suburban West Conference baseball coaches on what kind of record it would take to win the league in 2011, especially with the new format which includes back-to-back games against all eight teams in the conference.

"I thought maybe a 10-6 record might win it," Lindbergh High School coach Darin Scott said.

Parkway South High School coach Adam Stahl concurred.

"I thought five or six losses might win it," Stahl said. "I never expected it to go the way it did with the caliber of teams in this conference, which I think is the toughest in the entire state of Missouri."

Parkway South got off to a great start in the league, and overall, and defended its title with a pair of wins last week against Lindbergh to go 12-2 in the conference. Marquette High School defeated Parkway South, 7-0, last Wednesday in a makeup game.

"I think this new format rewards teams that have depth," Stahl said. "You don't have the one team who can throw just the one pitcher against us. You have a battle with a team like Oakville and then have to go down there the next day. I think this makes the conference better. Every one of the teams in the conference is ready to play in districts."

With the regular season over, the focus now is on the postseason and two conference teams have received top seeds in district tournaments.

Parkway South is the top seed in what looks like a very rugged Class 4 District 4 Tournament, hosted by second-seeded Lafayette High School. Marquette and Eureka High School are seeded fourth and fifth, respectively.Parkway South swept Lafayette during the season (8-6 and 6-4) but split against both Marquette (winning 5-3 and losing 7-0) and Eureka (winning 8-3 and losing 7-1). Parkway South hosted Union on Monday and won, 5-0.

Eureka, the No. 5 seed, played fourth-seeded Marquette on Monday. Marquette fell, 7-3.

Pacific is the unknown, wild-card team in the district. The Indians were undefeated champions of the Four Rivers Conference and are 17-3 overall. Pacific hosted Parkway West on Monday night and won, 5-4. The semifinals will be played on Tuesday, and the championship game of Class 4 District 4 will be Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Oakville is the top seed in the Class 4 District 2 Tournament, which is hosted by Hillsboro. The Tigers, who finished in a second place tie with Lindbergh in the conference race, will get challenges from second-seed Windsor and third-seed Seckman. Windsor, which did not play Oakville this season, is 16-8. Seckman won the Suburban South Conference, winning all eight league games. Oakville defeated Seckman 1-0 in the regular season.

In the first round on Monday, Oakville played Hillsboro and lost, 5-3. Fifth-seed Mehlville played Festus. Mehlville won, 12-2.

In Tuesday’s first-round games, Windsor plays No. 7-seed Fox and third-seed Seckman plays No. 6 Northwest. The semifinals are on Wednesday, and the championship will be played at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. 

Lindbergh is the second seed in the Class 4 District 3 Tournament hosted by Vianney, which is the top seed. The Griffins, who are 20-8, defeated Lindbergh 11-4 on March 23. That district championship game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Girls Soccer
It took until the final day of the regular season to determine a champion in girls soccer in the Suburban West Conference. Lafayette and Parkway South entered Thursday's game with 6-1 league marks. Lafayette would prevail with a 1-0 victory. Parkway South tied Eureka for second in the conference while Oakville was fourth with a 5-3 league mark.

Lafayette and Parkway South are the top seeds in the Class 3 District 4 Tournament, which is hosted by Lafayette. The Lancers will play Marquette in the semifinals on Wednesday night. Marquette won Monday's first-round game over Parkway West, 2-0. Parkway South will play third-seeded Eureka in the other semifinal game on Wednesday. The championship game is slated for 6 p.m. Friday .

Lafayette has two wins against Parkway West (2-1 and 1-0), a win against Marquette (1-0) and the 1-0 win against Parkway South last Thursday. The one league loss came against Eureka (1-0).

Oakville hosts the Class 3 District 2 Tournament. The Tigers, who are 12-6, are seeded second behind Cor Jesu. The Chargers, who play in the rugged MWAA White Conference, are 13-6 and coming off a huge 1-0 win over Incarnate Word on Wednesday. Oakville and Cor Jesu did not play this season.

Third-seeded Rockwood Summit played sixth-seeded Fox High School in the first round Monday. Summit pounded Fox High School, 10-0, in the regular season. Summit prevailed again, winning 6-0.

Fourth-seeded Lindbergh played fifth-seeded Mehlville on Monday in the other first-round game. Lindbergh won, 2-0. The semifinals will be on Wednesday, with the championship game scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday.

Northwest, which won just two league games but finished 12-8 overall, is seeded second in the Class 3 District 1 Tournament, hosted by Poplar Bluff. Jackson is the top seed. The Lions have not played Jackson or the third seed, Poplar Bluff, which is their semifinal opponent on Tuesday night. The championship game for District 1 is 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Boys Tennis
This week features sectional play for both individuals and teams in tennis. Two conference teams have qualified for sectionals and will play in the Class 2 Sectional 1 Tournament on Saturday. Oakville will play Kirkwood while Lafayette will play CBC. The winners of those two matches will play later in the day, with the winner advancing to the state team tournament in Springfield on May 26.

Individuals will also compete in sectionals this week, with the top two singles players and top two doubles teams from each sectional qualifying for the individual portion of the state tournament in Springfield on May 27-28.

Boys Golf
Eureka captured the Suburban West Conference Golf Tournament, which was held last Wednesday at Aberdeen. Gabe Borg and Matt Miklas led the way for the Wildcats, finishing second and third, respectively. Parkway South's Kyle Weldon was the individual medalist, shooting a 72. Lindbergh was third as a team. The Flyers were led by Justin Stacer, who finished in a fourth-place tie with Seth Smith of Lafayette.

Patch Suburban West Boys Athlete of the Week
Northwest's Andrew Hughes has been named the Patch Suburban West Conference Boys Athlete of the Week after his performance in one of the wackiest games of the season last Wednesday against Lafayette. Hughes had two doubles, a home run and six runs batted in and that was still not good enough for a Lions win. The game ended in a 17-17 tie.

Patch Suburban West Girls Athlete of the Week
Lafayette's Kelsey Clayman is the Patch Suburban West Girls Athlete of the Week. The junior midfielder scored the only goal of the game in the 1-0 win over Parkway South last Thursday which gave the Lancers the outright conference championship.