SCHUYLER/BANCROFT – Semifinal games for the Tri County League youth baseball Pony Division and both the Upper and Lower Didget Divisions took to the diamond Thursday evening.
In Schuyler, #3 Wayne Blue Ponies suffered an 11-3 loss to #2 Oakland-Craig while #2 Wayne Blue Didgets in the Upper Division secured a 7-3 victory over #3 Pender.
From the Pony outing, Oakland-Craig outscored Wayne Blue, 2-1 in the first before Wayne Blue took an early lead in the top of the third with two of their own runs. As Oakland-Craig trailed 3-2, the home team on a neutral field poured in six runs during the fifth and three more in the sixth to win 11-3. Wayne Blue fell to 10-4 as the team finished the game with eight errors.
Wayne Blue also lost 11-6 against Oakland-Craig back on May 23 this summer.
Jace Jorgensen singled, doubled, drove in two runs and scored as Gavin Anderson doubled and drove in a run. Kaden Keller singled and scored as Will Leseberg also scored.
Keller (86 pitches) suffered the loss in five innings allowing eight runs (three earned) off four hits while striking out four batters and walking one. Jamison Meyer (23 pitches) worked the final inning allowing three runs (one earned) off two hits while striking out one batter.
Blue Pony:
1 2 3 4 5 6 R H E
1 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 4 8 – Wayne Blue
2 0 0 0 6 3 X 11 6 0 – O/C
The other semifinal result was not yet recorded as of Friday morning between #5 West Point Patriots and #8 Wakefield. The Wayne Blue Ponies will play at 2:30 p.m. in the consolation game as the championship game will be played at noon both on Saturday, July 10 back in Schuyler.
For the Wayne Ponies, this ended a streak of five consecutive trips to the finals (winning 2015 – 2018; runner-up in 2019) excluding last year’s cancelation due to the pandemic.
During the Upper Didget Division game for Wayne Blue, Wayne improved to 12-1 with their semifinal final 7-3 win over #3 Pender.
Easton Endicott singled, doubled, drove in four runs and scored twice while Brayden Wehrer singled twice, drove in a run and scored. Colston Starzl singled twice and scored twice; Tucker Raveling doubled and drove in two runs; Kash Haase singled and scored as Kyle Brogren scored.
Endicott secured the win in five innings allowing three runs off three hits while striking out 10 batters and walking one. Wehrer earned the save in the final inning which included a defensive highlight from Liam Rockhill on an unassisted 5-3 (third to first) double-play to end the game.
The other semifinal result favored #5 West Point Patriot over #8 Howells-Dodge, 3-2. The Upper Didget Division Consolation game will feature #3 Pender vs. #8 Howells-Dodge at 8 p.m. following the Championship games between #2 Wayne Blue and #5 West Point Wildcats at 6 p.m. Games will be played in Lyons on Saturday.
With no games being played last year due to COVID, this will mark the third consecutive time that a Wayne Didget team is in the finals. Wayne White won the league tourney in 2019 (defeating Schuyler Green) and Wayne Blue placed runner-up in 2018 (falling to Howells-Dodge).
During the Lower Didget Division, #1 Logan View Blue defeated #4 Wakefield, 6-5 while no score was reported for #2 North Bend Black vs. #7 Schuyler. Their championship game will be on Saturday at the higher seed.
The Bronco Upper Division will conclude their tournament in Tekamah with a consolation game between #2 Schuyler and #5 Howells-Dodge as the finals will be #1 Pender vs. #3 West Point Patriots this evening.
