West Central Blue 14U played four tough games at the I-29 League Tournament held in Flandreau Friday, June 10th through Sunday, June 12th. Unfortunately West Central only got one win in those four games.
West Central Blue 1, Dell Rapids Navy 0
West Central and Dell Rapids played a great game on Friday afternoon. The two teams combined for only six hits as both pitching staffs were fantastic all game long. The difference came down a stolen base in the fourth inning, and West Central took advantage of it.
Jack Sebert started the top of the fourth with a single. Two batters later he was able to steal second on the first pitch to Dylan Bettcher. Sebert then advanced to third on a wild pitch later in the Bettcher at bat. Bettcher put the ball in play on the very next pitch after the wild pitch, a ground out to short stop. That ground ball allowed Sebert to score the only run of the game.
Dell Rapids got their lead-off batter on base in the top of the fifth inning. He got to third base on ground outs by the next two batters, but was unable to score as the third out was recorded on another ground ball to short stop Anthony Lanham.
Sebert, Nick Lorang, and Taten VanOverbeke had the three hits for West Central. Bettcher had the RBI. Lanham pitched 2 1/3 innings allowing one hit while striking out four. Ashton Gebhard pitched 1 2/3 innings allowing one hit and one walk with one strikeout. Sebert also pitched an inning.
Flandreau 2, West Central Blue 1
West Central got locked into another low-scoring battle with Flandreau on Friday. This time the teams combined for only four hits. Flandreau’s two-run second inning was enough for the win.
West Central got their run in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 2-1. Bettcher hit a one-out single and later scored on a wild pitch. Unfortunately West Central could not get a rally started in the fifth inning as their three batters were retired in order.
Bettcher and VanOverbeke each had a single in the game. Sebert pitched all five innings allowing two runs, both unearned, on two hits with two strikeouts.
Madison Maroon 3, West Central Blue 1
Saturday’s game for West Central proved to be the same as Friday’s. Pitching was once again a feature as only five hits total were allowed in the game.
Madison took advantage of an error in the bottom of the first inning and scored two times on back-to-back singles. They added another run in the bottom of the third on a single after an error for a 3-0 lead. West Central got a run in the top of the fourth. Gebhard grounded out to short stop, but brought home Bettcher for a run.
Sebert and Lorang had the only two hits for West Central. Gebhard had an RBI. Lanham pitched four innings and allowed three runs, all unearned, on three hits and a walk with five strikeouts.
Flandreau 14, West Central Blue 12
Despite going 1-2 in their first three games, West Central advanced to Sunday and got a rematch with Flandreau. This time the offenses combined for 26 runs, and runs were scored in every inning by at least one team as the lead went back and forth.
West Central struck first in the bottom of the first inning with a run. Flandreau took the lead in the top of the second with two runs, 2-1. West Central responded with a five-run bottom of the second and led 6-2 after two innings of play.
Flandreau scored the next four runs to tie the game. They got a run in the top of the third and three more in the top of the fourth. West Central broke the tie with a run in the bottom of the fourth and led 7-6 after four. Flandreau then started to pull away. They got three runs in the top of the fifth for a 9-7 lead. After a run by West Central in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 9-8, Flandreau scored three more times in the top of the sixth. West Central plated two runs in their half of the sixth, and Flandreau led 12-10 heading into the final inning. Both teams scored two runs in the seventh, and Flandreau took the 14-12 win.
Lanham had two hits and an RBI. Lorang added a hit and RBI. Sebert and Alex Siemonsma both had a single. Hayes Cain had an RBI as well. Cain pitched three innings and allowed five earned runs on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Gebhard pitched three innings allowing nine runs, four earned, on seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts. Siemonsma pitched an inning and recorded one strikeout.