Senior Logan Wesley shakes some "Puddin'," sophomore Matt Lovercamp (11), following the Chiefs' come-from-behind victory in the state semifinals. (Chris Allen/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

A six-run rally in the sixth inning Wednesday gave the Santa Fe baseball team a 7-4 victory over defending champion New Haven in the semifinal round of the MSHSAA Class 1 Championships at Springfield's spacious Meador Park -- as distant from Alma in dimension as it is in mileage.

That put the unbeaten Chiefs into today's title clash with Stoutland, which handed them a crushing 8-7 defeat in the semifinal last year.

"No better team than Stoutland," senior Kenzie Thorp remarked about the rematch, after watching the Tigers down Oran, 7-4, in the morning game. "Revenge."

Certainly, Santa Fe had something to prove, especially after losing both games on the same stage a year ago. Still a relatively young team, with only three upperclassmen on the roster, the Chiefs have had to grow up fast.

"We knew what we had to do," remarked junior Logan Kirchhoff, who survived a nervous first inning -- in which he walked two batters, both scoring on senior Scott Sory's soaring double to deep right field.

"We knew if we got down early, we had to fight throughout," Kirchhoff said. "This year, we're more mentally tough."

Certainly that was the case for Kirchhoff, who gutted it out through five scoreless innings -- stranding six runners and getting some wizardry from junior Taylor Wesley at shortstop, including a throw from deep in the hole to nip senior Craig Schowe with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the third.

"We told him to relax and just groove it in," said Santa Fe head coach Josh Fisher. "That tells a lot about Logan - and our defense, too."

So it was the Chiefs went into the sixth trailing by only two runs.

As is often the case, their rally began at the bottom of the order with junior Max Capps -- whose two-out double set up junior Ben Catlett's game-winning homer against Archie in the quarterfinals.

A bouncer to third base was bobbled long enough to allow Capps to speed safely to first base.

Catlett then executed his end of a run-and-hit by singling to right field. A grounder put the tying run in scoring position.

Wesley walked, which would have loaded the bases if not Schowe's pick-off throw following the fourth ball not gone into left field, allowing the go-ahead run to reach second.

In similar circumstances -- one out and first base open -- against more familiar foes, opponents have walked Thorp intentionally.

But the Shamrocks eschewed that strategy and Thorp, the class valedictorian, educated them by lacing an off-speed pitch from Sory into center field to plate two runs.

"I knew it would be a curveball because he threw it to me every time, so I waited on it," he said. "Luckily, I hit it on the end of the bat."

"He was weaving it in there and we were making it harder on ourselves, giving up on pitches," said Fisher, frustrated through the early going by the Chiefs' waving their bats before the arrival of Sory's slow offerings. "It seems like it takes them a couple of innings to get things figured out."

Senior Logan Wesley got a bad-hop single past third base and sophomore Matt Lovercamp drew a free pass to pack the sacks.

That brought up Kirchhoff and, dog, if he also didn't get a breaking pitch -- which he belted into left-center, the bags clearing on an errant, late throw to the plate.

Santa Fe tacked on a run in the top of the seventh, Catlett singling and scoring on Thorp's sacrifice fly after an error kept him alive on the base paths.

However, New Haven wasn't going to relinquish its crown readily.

Taylor Wesley took over on the hill and gave up an infield single to senior Austin Bloch and walked senior Blaine Abbott with one out. Senior Jordan Willimann and Sory stroked RBI singles and a free pass to senior Scott Tiedtke to put runners on each base and bring junior Josh Riegel to the plate with the potential game-winning run.

Riegel chopped the ball to third base, where Logan Wesley fumbled it.

He heaved it to second base, where a generous call on the force play on Tiedtke ended the game with the Shamrocks (17-3) fuming.

That, of course, didn't matter to Santa Fe (19-0), which celebrated at Hammons Field watching the Springfield Cardinals taking on San Antonio -- a year after losing the Texas League title to the Missions.

The Chiefs have their own mission in mind, one also seeking redemption against a Stoutland squad which snuffed their dreams a year earlier.

"Our boys played tough that game," Fisher recalled. "They're going to have to come out ready to rock."