By STEPHEN GLOVER

For the Call

It’s been an up-and-down season for the Crestwood American Legion baseball club — just ask Head Coach Roy Tippett.

“We’ve been pretty up and down all season,” Tippett told the Call. “We’ve been that way for most of the year.”

Crestwood (11-10, 7-8 league) suffered one of its worst defeats this season in a 12-2 blasting by Chesterfield in the first round of the American Legion Firecracker Tournament.

“We just were not hustling and got down pretty early in the game,” Tippett said. “We were just dragging and everybody was just going through the motions out there.”

Crestwood starting pitcher David Ounanian took the loss as he gave up 13 runs on 13 hits in four inning pitched. Ounanian walked four batters and struck out two in the losing effort.

“David’s actually gotten better throughout the season,” Tippett said. “He’s definitely progressed for us this year. He threw pretty good, but it’s tough to win when you don’t get the defense you need.”

Crestwood bounced back Saturday morning with a whopping 15 hits in an 11-6 win over Columbia.

“We played a great game,” Tippett said. “Tom Kammerer threw a great game against them. He changed speeds and really hit his spots. He did a great job on the mound and was the big difference for us.”

Kammerer went the distance as he threw nine innings while giving up just four earned runs on 10 hits.

He retired seven batters with strikeouts, while walking three in the win.

Chris Zellers had a strong game at the plate for Crestwood as he went 2-6 at the plate, while driving in two runs on two doubles while recording a stolen base.

“Chris is definitely our best hitter,” Tippett said. “He’s got a lot of potential to be a college player. He’s a player that hits for power and for average.”

Post 777 continued its winning streak with a barn burning 6-5 win over Ballwin. The win was a milestone for this season’s Crestwood squad after suffering 13-10 and 12-8 losses to Ballwin earlier this year.

“We lost two to them (Ballwin) earlier in the year and were happy to beat them,” Tippett said. “We kind of hurt ourselves in prior games with them and Ballwin’s a good team. I think they were getting down on pitching like we were and we just took advantage of that.”

Crestwood starting pitcher Andy Baer grabbed the win for Post 777 as he threw five innings while giving up three runs on seven hits.

“Andy’s done a good job at being a primary reliever for us this season,” Tippett said. “He may get a permanent spot in being a starter for us. He made good pitches and that’s what I want out of my guys.”

In Crestwood’s final game of the Fire-cracker Tournament, Post 777 suffered a 10-3 loss to Decatur, Ill. Crestwood gave up five runs in the first inning and never recovered from that setback.

Post 777 will face Creve Coeur Saturday afternoon at Parkway North Senior High School, and Tippett realizes the importance of a win over a solid district opponent.