Blaine Reutter tossed a five-inning perfect game as second rated Boone cruised past Chariton 12-0 in a class 3A quarterfinal round game. Reutter says there’s no way he could have thrown a perfect game without his teammates, who he says made the plays to keep him in it. He struck out 7 of the 15 batters he faced. Boone is now 36-4.
Boone opened the scoring with two runs in the second inning and led 3-0 before blowing the game open with nine runs in the top of the fifth. They finished the game with 10 hits. Reutter’s perfect game was not secured until Boone shortstop Josh Frank made a sparkling play on a slow roller off the bat of Chariton’s Dustin Harberts. Reutter says he had confidence that Frank would make the play.
The loss ends a late season run by Chariton which finished the season with a record of 15-18. Chariton coach Chris Basinger says he thought they would have a 20-win team coming in, but things didn’t go that way after an injury to their top pitcher. He says he’s happy they got hot at the right time at the end of the season and feels the future is bright for the program.