The CAM Cougars worked out of a 7th inning jam with some great defensive play and earned their way to the Substate Final with a 3-2 win over Lenox on Saturday night in Anita.

It wasn’t an easy finish for the Cougars with Lenox getting two runners on with nobody out to start the top of the 7th. Drew Venteicher had a base hit to lead off then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Colton Gordon then sent a beautiful bunt down the third base line that came to rest in the dirt just before the chalk to stay fair and put runners at the corners for the Tigers. Nick Holste ran out of pitches and Marcus Daugherty had to come in to try to get out of the jam. Then came the play of the night as Jared Hensley hit a fly ball to shallow center field. DeShawn Carr who had just moved over to center from right was able to get underneath the ball and make the catch. He then rifled a throw to home plate as the runners took off for the Tigers. Austin Chester snagged the ball just in front of home plate and secured a standing tag on Zach Schmitz, who was running for Venteicher, and not allow the tying run to score. Daugherty was then able to get Kaleb Anderson to pop out back to him to end the game.

Carr talked about the big play:

Holste picked up the win on the mound allowing 2 runs on 7 hits with 2 strikeouts, no walks, and 1 hit batter.  Holste was impressed by the big play of his teammates to secure the win:

Daugherty got the save getting out of the 7th inning jam. He talked after the game about that big moment in the 7th as well:

Jared Hensley took the loss for Lenox going the distance allowing 3 runs on 5 hits with 2 strikeouts, and 2 walks.

CAM opened up the game with 3 hits in the first to score two runs and get the early lead. Marcus Daugherty started the game with a base hit and was driven home on a single by Austin Chester three batters later. Mitchell Williamson got a base hit and eventually reached home on a fielders choice.  Carr talked about the importance of getting off to that great start:

Lenox came back to score a run in the 2nd and 3rd innings to tie it up at 2. Drew Venteicher had an RBI single that brought Colton Hogan home in the 2nd. Jared Hensley came home on an error in the third when Dawson Tullberg reached first on a pop up that Kolby Nelson and DeShawn Carr let drop between them.

The Cougars got the deciding run of the game in the 4th inning thanks to two Lenox errors. Nick Holste led off the inning with a base hit and went to second as the ball was misplayed in the outfield. Ben Tibken then reached on a throwing error to first base and came around to second as Holste came home to score. The Cougars would load the bases up after that with a walk and a hit batter but Thomas Hensley flied out to center to end the inning.

Lenox ends their season at 20-6. CAM improved to 21-7 on the season and will move on to face 26-12 St. Albert in the Substate 7 Final on Tuesday night in Harlan at 7:00pm.  The Falcons were winners on their home field in the District 14 Final over Stanton 4-1. We’ll have that Substate 7 Final on KJAN Tuesday night with Pregame at 6:45pm and First Pitch at 7:00pm.

Class 1A

District 13: CAM 3, Lenox 2
District 14: St. Albert 4, Stanton 1
District 15: Coon Rapids 4, Ar-We-Va 1
District 16: Akron-Westfield 10, Kingsley-Pierson 1

Class 2A

District 3: Kuemper Catholic 8, Alta/Aurelia 7
District 15: Tri-Center 9, West Central Valley 1
District 16: Treynor 2, Clarinda 1

Class 1A

District 13: Lenox @ CAM 7:00pm (ON KJAN w/ Chris Parks)
District 14: Stanton @ St. Albert 7:00pm
District 15: Ar-We-Va @ Coon Rapids-Bayard 7:00pm
District 16: Kingsley-Pierson @ Akron-Westfield 7:00pm

Class 2A

District 3: Alta/Aurelia @ Kuemper Catholic 7:00pm
District 15: West Central Valley @ Tri-Center 7:00pm
District 16: Clarinda @ Treynor 7:00pm

The Creston Panthers scored 2 runs in the top of the 1st and 7th innings to defeat the Atlantic Trojans 4-2 on Friday night in Glenwood in Class 3A District 16 Semifinal play.

The Panthers opened the game with 2 runs on 4 hits in the first inning with Brandon McDowell and Cody Crawford crossing the plate. The Trojans answered back with an RBI Single by Noah Bruckner in the bottom of the first and an RBI double by Phoenix Shadden in the second to tie the game up at 2.

Both teams would stall out from the third to the sixth with Atlantic missing more opportunities during that stretch, leaving 5 runners on base those innings. The biggest missed opportunity was the sixth when the Trojans got two on with no outs and came up empty in the inning.

Creston then scored 2 in the top of the 7th with 2 hits and aided by two errors and a walk from the Trojans. The big play for the Panthers came when Cody Crawford hit a grounder to the left field gap and Trojan shortstop Chase McLaren came across to snag the ball and had to make a tough throw attempt to third for a force out try. The throw got away to the fence allowing two runners to come home for the Panthers.  Those proved to be the deciding runs as the Trojans couldn’t get anything going in the bottom of the 7th.

Kadon Hulett pitched 6 strong innings for the Creston win with 7 strikeouts and allowing 2 runs on 6 hits with 1 walk. Dustin Merritt came in to close in the 7th for the Panthers and got his 3rd save of the season. Chase Mullenix took the loss for Atlantic allowing 4 runs on 6 hits with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks.

Atlantic ends the season at 12-20. Creston improved to 14-19 and will now face Denison-Schleswig in the district final on Monday in Glenwood.  The Monarchs beat Glenwood 2-1 in the second game of the night Friday.