Cherokee 11-12s earn state tourney bid

After Thursday night, one thing is certain.
The Cherokee 11-12 All-Stars will have their shot at a third straight state title.
That comes after Cherokee knocked off Galena, 9-5 in the Little League South Division tournament Thursday night at Riverton.
And, they got that by generating runs early.
Cherokee picked up all nine of their runs in the first three innings of the game.
“It helps,” said Cherokee coach Bryan Burdette. “It put pressure on the other team and I think they knew we would hit the ball. Our speed was really able to put the pressure on.”
That in addition to notching 13 hits didn’t seem to hurt either.
Over their first two games of the tournament, Cherokee has hit the ball safely, 28 times.
On Thursday, Ryan Rakestraw went 4-for-4 with a double in the third. He was followed by a double from Caleb Biancarelli and a single by Jace Burdette.
That led to Cherokee taking a 9-3 lead.
Rakestraw came back and threw two innings of relief on the mound, allowing just two runs to score.
That included a dangerous situation in the sixth as Galena had the bases loaded with two outs, but Cherokee was able to come up with the final out of the game.
“They [Galena] were into it and it would have been easy to just lay down but the kids really met the challenge,” Bryan Burdette said.
Now, Cherokee has one game left in the district tournament — against host Riverton at 8 p.m. Saturday before heading to the state tournament at Baxter Springs.
“Our goal now is to win the district and go in as the No. 1 team in the district,” Bryan Burdette said. “We achieved one goal and now we will move on to the next one.”

Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140. Follow Morning Sun sports at twitter.com/mssports.

Little League South Division tournament
at Riverton
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Cherokee 9, Galena 5
Galena    003 020 — 5 6 3
Cherokee    423 00X — 9 13 1
James Zimmerman, Ryan Rakestraw (5) and Caleb Biancarelli. Kyle Matthews, Chasson Ipock (5) and J.C. Pugsley. WP — Zimmerman. LP — Matthews. 2B — Rakestraw, Biancarelli, Chandler Jackson; Zack Bankson.