After winning its first two games in the District 10 Tournament, the Crestwood American Legion baseball team ran into a string of bad luck that eventually eliminated it from the playoffs.

Crestwood first dropped an 11-0 decision to Manchester and then fell 11-5 to Ballwin.

The loss bounced Post 777 out of playoff contention.

“It’s definitely a sore way to end the season,” Crestwood head coach Mason Horne told the Call.

“At this time of the year, you’re playing the best of the best and we just ran out of gas,” he added.

Crestwood (13-16) fell behind 1-0 after one inning, but bounced back with three runs in the top of the second and one run in the top of the third to take a 4-1 lead.

But Ballwin refused to throw in the towel, as Post 611 hammered out four runs in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game at 4-4.

Ballwin’s one run in the fourth along with a run in the fifth and four more runs in the sixth were just too much for Crestwood Post 777 to overcome in the final three innings.

“Going into this tournament, we thought that we could compete with anyone,” Horne said. “But we knew that we would have to play flawlessly in order to win it all.”

Crestwood starting pitcher Curt Hansen appeared on paper to be the best option available for Post 777 after coming back from vacation the previous evening.

But a well-rested arm was not enough to keep the ball from drifting up into the zone as Hansen took the loss against Ballwin Post 611.

“Curt was actually coming back from vacation the night before and was our freshest guy,” Horne said. “I thought he pitched very well, but he was up in the zone and when you do that, they’re going to hit you.”

Post 777 designated hitter Drew Shlereth was solid at the plate with a three-hit performance that included a double and one run batted in.

“I think that Drew grew up a lot this season,” Horne said. “He’s a tough kid that’s an intense competitor and is very hard on himself. Drew turned out to be a great asset to have this season.”