Sparta ends Steeleville's chance for District 25 title

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[In the first inning, Sparta's Jordan Thompson took the mound striking out all three Steeleville batters. When at bat, Sparta would add three runs to take the early lead with help from Darius Jackson's single to left, a Jordan Thompson single to center, a Zack Ferguson double scoring Jackson and Thompson and finally, a Kevin Prest single to right driving home Ferguson.

Things started to look up for Steeleville in the second as Josh Diercks doubled and Tyler Coleman scored on a walk. On defense, Diercks would allow one hit, but deliver strikeouts to the next three batters, bringing the score 3-1.

In the third inning, things took a turn for the worst for Steeleville. They had a difficult time at bat and while on defense, they would have an even harder time keeping strikes in the zone. Sparta would take a ten point leadstarting off with a single to shallow left from Zack Ferguson. Ferguson would steal 2nd and 3rd base on overthrows while Kyle Wall was at bat. Wall would get a walk. Kevin Prest would single to right. Josh Loyd would single on a blooper to right on a Clint Young error driving home Ferguson. With bases still loaded and no outs, Ethan Renner would get hit by a pitch bringing home Wall. After a pitching change for Steeleville, Trevor Morgan would single with an RBI, Loyd would steal home on an overthrow, Chris Theobold would get a walk, Darius Jackson would single bringing home Renner and Jordan Thompson would single bringing home Morgan. Steeleville would change pitchers again with Jesse Smith taking the mound for Steeleville. Sparta's Zack Ferguson would get a walk bringing home Jackson, Chris Theobold would steal home on an overthrow and Jordan Thompson would get a walk. Sparta would add two more runs before Steeleville could end the inning. Errors and walks for Steeleville played a huge role in Sparta's success at bat. This would create a huge deficit that Steeleville could not recover from for the rest of the night.

Dalton Roberts would take the mound for Sparta in the fourth. Steeleville's John Baughman would single to left field, bringing home Colin Smith who walked and Clint Hawkins who was on with a double. They would hold Sparta from scoring, but have no luck in the fifth to close the gap. The officials would call the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with the ten run rule.

Steeleville would place 4th and Sparta would go on to meet Pinckneyville in the Championships game the next night.