Monday, Aug. 19, 2002 | 9:56 a.m.
Cimarron-Memorial left-hander Paul Schmidt knew early on in the Spartans' American Legion Western Regional semifinal Sunday night that he wouldn't be able to rely on his curveball.
As it turned out, he didn't need to.
Schmidt held Boulder, Colo., to two runs (one earned) on seven hits and struck out nine for a complete-game victory as the Spartans advanced to tonight's Western Regional final against Hawaii with a 4-2 win.
"My curveball wasn't even working tonight, so it was just fastballs," Schmidt said. "I just threw the curve a couple of times, three times probably, and they really didn't hit the fastball."
Of Boulder's seven hits, three never made it out of the infield and three others were flares into the outfield.
Boulder grabbed an early 1-0 lead on a pair of Texas League singles in the first, but the Spartans rallied for four runs in the fourth, highlighted by designated hitter Kyle Fitzpatrick's three-run home run to right-center.
"Kyle was a last-minute choice (as designated hitter)," Spartans coach Kevin Kohler said. "Paul usually hits for himself but I didn't want him running around the bases -- I just wanted him worrying about pitching.
"We picked Kyle, the senior, and the first time (at bat), he struck out looking and then he came up with the big hit. He's our only senior that we don't know if he's going to go on and play next year. If he doesn't, that's a huge game to come up with a big hit for all his buddies."
Fitzpatrick's homer was one of only four hits the Spartans' offense generated off Boulder pitchers Kevin Russo and Calder Hendrickson.
Boulder cut Cimarron's lead to 4-2 with an unearned run in the seventh, but Schmidt (8-2) retired the final seven batters he faced in order to complete his 122-pitch outing.
"Paul's a guy who is not really a power pitcher," Kohler said. "When (our pitchers) get to around 90 pitches, I start to assess and I thought Paul was getting stronger and stronger as the game went on.
"He started striking guys out and hitting his spots. I don't like to let them go that far but in a game when it gets this big late in the year, it's hard to take him out."
Cimarron will play Hawaii, a 9-7 winner over Tucson, Ariz., in Sunday's other semifinal, tonight at 7 at Lied Field on the Community College of Southern Nevada's Henderson campus.
Although the Spartans defeated Hawaii 20-13 on Saturday in pool play, Kohler said he expects a different game tonight.
"We beat Hawaii, but neither team threw their aces," Kohler said. "They've got their ace ready to go and I've got all my pitching ready to go but Paul.
"We feel confident but Hawaii is fast and they're well coached and it's certainly not going to be an easy game. If we hit like we did (Sunday), I don't think we'll win; we have to do a better job at the plate."
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