Logan Ripper delivers walk-off winner in eighth as Springfield Catholic beats Excelsior Springs in Missouri Class 4 semifinal

OZARK, Mo. – Springfield Catholic’s battery of Ben Smith and Logan Ripper energized and powered the Fightin’ Irish on Wednesday night.

Smith tossed eight strong innings and blasted a leadoff double in the bottom of the eighth. Then Ripper came through with a clutch two-out RBI single to cap off a dramatic 3-2 win over Excelsior Springs in the Class 4 semifinals at Sky Bacon Stadium.

“Ben Smith was amazing on the mound for us,” Springfield Catholic coach Courtney Spitz said. “That’s a good team. We knew that we would see that out of them – fighting every AB, putting balls in play. They come up with the big hits and tie the game at 2 and then it’s stagnant from there. Not necessarily a lack of opportunities – I feel like both teams had opportunities – but just trying to come up with that big hit. Logan Ripper comes up in another situation and hits a line drive, able to get a barrel on the baseball. Very blessed and very thankful to still be alive.”

Springfield Catholic (21-7), which finished second in Class 3 a year ago, will now play John Burroughs (27-3) for the Class 4 championship at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The Fightin’ Irish are happy to have another shot at a championship after moving up to Class 4 this season and surviving Excelsior Springs (28-13) on Wednesday night.

Smith, a University of Missouri signee, allowed two runs on four hits, struck out nine and walked two in his eight-inning complete game effort. Also Catholic’s No. 3 hitter, Smith came up clutch with his eighth-inning double that nearly left the ballpark.

“To have a kid like that come through your program is once in a lifetime,” Spitz said. “He’s different. He always has been different. He’s our leader. He’s our go-getter. He’s that guy that if I had to win one game on the mound, I’d go to him. … I would trust Ben Smith with my life and I know these guys rally around him. I can’t wait to see what he does with his career because he is a phenomenal person and an even better ballplayer.”

Ripper, the Irish’s senior catcher, said Smith “did a fantastic job today.”

So did he. Ripper, who hit the game-winning home run in Catholic’s quarterfinal win over Nevada, led the offensive attack Wednesday with three of his team’s seven hits – including the walk-off single in the eighth.

“I was seeing the fastball well today, so I knew if he threw me something I was going to hit it,” Ripper said. “He threw me something middle-middle and I jumped on it.”

Ripper’s eighth-inning single was just out of reach of Excelsior Springs’ leaping second baseman and scored courtesy runner Quinn Northrup from second base.

“He started off the year slow, but he came before practice every single day and worked his butt off in the cages,” Smith said. “He wanted it really bad. So for him to go out there and do something like that, he deserves it more than anybody else on this team.”

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Photos from Nate Latsch