#7 West County Defeats #1 Valle Catholic 6-2 in Class 3 District 3 Championship Game On KREI

Logos courtesy of the schools

(Frankclay) The Class Three #7 West County Bulldogs beat the Class Three #1 Valle Catholic Warriors, 6-2, to win the District Three championship on Wednesday.

After a scoreless first inning, West County loaded up the bases with one out in the top of the second for freshman Ryan Hull.

The Bulldogs added one more on an RBI from senior Trey Wright to go up 2-0. Valle Catholic answered the call in the bottom half of the inning with RBIs from senior Carson Tucker and junior Rylan Fallert.

West County responded in the top of the third. Sophomore Julian Thebeau doubled to start the inning then junior Carter Reed laid down a bunt on the first pitch he saw.

West County plated two more on a couple fielding errors to go up 5-2. Sophomore Hudsen Dunlap brought around run number six with two strikes against him.

In the bottom of the third, Valle Catholic had the bases loaded with no outs. West County senior Caden Merrill got the next three batters out to keep the Bulldogs on top 6-2. West County nearly added to their total in the fourth, but the Valle Catholic defense prevented that from happening.

Merrill kept the Warriors bats at bay until he reached his pitch limit with one out remaining in the game. Sophomore Nolan Sansoucie came in for relief. He gave up a double, an RBI single, and another batter reached on an error before closing out the game with a little help from Merrill.

West County became district champions for the first time since 2019. Merrill struck out three batters over 6.1 innings giving up seven hits, two runs, and two walks. He tried to gather his thoughts on the Patsy’s Furniture Postgame Show.

Dunlap, Thebeau and sophomore Ty Harlow recored two hits each. The Bulldogs improve to 19-4. They’ll host either St. Pius or Valley Park in the state sectionals next Tuesday.
Valle Catholic ends their season at 29-5. Juniors Alex Viox and Grant Fallert had a couple of hits each. Senior Chase Fallert threw four innings of relief and gave up three hits and zero runs.

Interview with Senior Caden Merrill: