Pirates fall to Fair Grove in district championship game, Easton Rust finishes ninth in Class 2 state golf tournament

The 2026 baseball season has come to an end for the Class 3, seventh ranked Ash Grove Pirates after they lost to Class 3, number one ranked Fair Grove in the championship game of the Class 3, District 12 tournament in Stockton on Wednesday, May 20, 6-1.

The Pirates got on the board first when Kyler Reece homered in the bottom of the first inning to right field to take an early 1-0 lead. The Eagles answered back with two runs in the bottom of the second inning, two runs in the bottom of the third inning and single runs in the bottom of fourth and fifth innings.

Reece was 1-3 with a home run, a run scored and an RBI and Saxton Kinney finished the game 2-3.

Ash Grove reached the championship game by knocking off host Stockton, 4-2 in the semifinals on Monday, May 18.

The first two and half innings of the game saw no runs before the Pirates scored twice in the bottom of the third inning on a Jaden Shorter single to center, to take an early 1-0 lead. Kinney would follow up with another single to center to drive in Reece to increase the lead to 2-0. The Tigers answered with two runs in the top of the fourth inning to tie the game 2-2. Ash Grove would regain the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on a Ty Messley singled to center to drive in Chase Acosta and Hunter Heffernon. Ash Grove then kept the Stockton bats quiet the rest of the game to preserve the 4-2 win.

Shorter was 2-3 with a double and an RBI, Messley went 1-2 with two RBI and Kinney finished the game 1-3 with an RBI.

The Pirates finish their season with a 23-7 record.

Golf

Easton Rust made the trip to Farmington on Monday and Tuesday, May 19 to play in the Class 2 state golf tournament, finishing tied for ninth place with a two-day total of 151. Rust shot 77 on Monday and 74 on Tuesday.