Waterville Indians 2, Litchfield Blues 1 (Class C)
Baseball is America’s pastime, but it appears Mother Nature is a fan as well because the rain that was supposed to come through the area went south and the day went on as scheduled.
Both pitchers and defenses were up to the task. Avery Liestman started for the Litchfield Blues and Dallas McBroom started for the Waterville Indians.
Both teams scored in the third and that was it until extra innings, when Waterville won on a walk-off squeeze play in the bottom of the 11th.
Waterville’s Luke Sellner scored the game-winning run after an extra-base hit leading off the inning.
“Throughout the last five or six innings, we struggled to get anybody on. I really just wanted to be on time with a fastball and it ended up working out,” said Sellner. “The second I got to second base with nobody out, I was 90 percent sure we were going to bunt twice. Thankfully, that’s what we did and it ended up working out.”
Ryan Quast led off the top of the third with a single. Andrew Loch singled next and Quast was thrown out at home, but Loch took second on the throw. Bennett Lecher gave Litchfield a 1-0 lead with an RBI single, but that was all the offense the Blues mustered.
Jack Mellstrom reached on an error and stole second before scoring on Josh Cook’s game-tying RBI single.
Eight innings later, Sellner powered a leadoff double to begin the bottom of the 11th for the Indians despite nearly being thrown out on a bang-bang play at second. A sacrifice bunt advanced Sellner to third. Nolan Grose was intentionally walked, bringing Dalton Grose to the plate with one out and runners at the corners.
Dalton Grose dropped a bunt and Sellner scored on a squeeze play to secure a 2-1 win and a spot in the Sweet 16.
Waterville advances to play Regal in Brownton on Sunday, Aug. 24.
Courtland Cubs 6, Pine Island Pioneers 3 (Class C)
It was a David vs. Goliath matchup between the top-ranked Courtland Cubs and the Pine Island Pioneers, who were making their first appearance at the state tournament since 1944.
Jerry Fletcher got Pine Island on the board first. He led off the top of the fourth with a single and came around on an error with two outs. But the lead didn’t last long as Nolan Drill got on in the next half inning and then scored on a sacrifice fly.
Jackson Bode doubled to the deep left-center field gap in the fifth, giving Courtland a 2-1 lead that continued to expand. Maddox Mortenson and Drill connected on consecutive RBI singles as the lead grew to 4-1.
The lead grew to 6-1 before Keegan Majerus crushed a two-run home run in the top of the eighth, but it was too little, too late for Pine Island as they fell to Courtland 6-3.
Courtland will play the Pierz Lakers on Sunday, Aug. 24, in Brownton at 11 a.m.
Bird Island Bullfrogs 3 , Prior Lake Mudcats 0 (Class B)
Hitting was at a premium between the Prior Lake Mudcats and Bird Island Bullfrogs. Starting pitchers Lance Behrens and Aidan Elfering were locked in.
Behrens had allowed just one hit through four shutout innings, but Elfering helped himself out in a big way during the bottom of the fifth. He stepped to the plate with one out and unloaded a 2-2 pitch over the left field wall for the go-ahead solo home run.
As good as Behrens was, Elfering was even better. He allowed just two hits with 16 strikeouts during a complete game shutout as the Bullfrogs beat the Mudcats 3-0. 76 percent of his pitches were strikes.
Bird Island will play the Hutchinson Huskies on Friday, Aug. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in Hutchinson.
