Wooden Shoes Claim Third Place Honors at State 2A Tournament

(THE TEUTOPOLIS WOODEN SHOES RECEIVE THEIR MEDALS FOR THEIR THIRD PLACE FINISH)

The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes bounced back from a semifinal loss Friday at the State 2A Baseball Tournament to claim third place honors with a 4-1 victory Saturday over Peru St. Bede. The game was heard on KJ Country 102.3 and www.kjcountry.com.  

The game started in a manner similar to Friday's 4-1 loss to Williamsville, as the Shoes got runners on early, but couldn't cash in. Finally, in the fifth inning, the Wooden Shoes dented the scoreboard. Centerfielder Tommy Flach led off the inning with a double and he was driven in on a base hit by Louis Niemerg.

However, St. Bede came right back as Niemerg ran into problems in the bottom of the fifth. After two were out, Niemerg gave up three straight singles to load the bases and then walked the next batter to force in the tying run.

The Shoes bounced back, though, with two runs in the sixth. John Kreke and Brock Mette led off the frame with singles, Mette on the infield, and then third baseman Austin Johnson singled both runners in to give Teutopolis a 3-1 lead. 

The Shoes added another run in the top of the seventh when Austin Hartke was hit by a pitch and John Mette then doubled courtesy runner Jordan Bloemer around to third where he was driven in on a sacrifice fly by Brock Mette.

Meanwhile, Niemerg pitched a six-hitter while walking two and fanning two batters to post the win, his 12th of the spring without a loss.

(THE WOODEN SHOES CELEBRATE AFTER THEIR THIRD PLACE FINISH)

At the plate for T-Town: Devin Smith singled; Louis Niemerg singled twice and drove in a run; Jordan Thoele singled; Austin Hartke singled; Jordan Bloemer scored a run; John Kreke doubled and singled; Tyler Westendorf scored a run; Brock Mette singled three times and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and scored a run; Austin Johnson singled and drove in two runs; Jacob Roepke singled; and Tommy Flach doubled and scored a run.

Teutopolis finished the season with a 32-6-1 record and third place in the state; the Shoes won back-to-back state titles in 2010 and 2011 and also finished third in 2013. That's four top three finishes in six seasons. This year also marks the sixth straight season that the Shoes have posted 30 or more wins. The Tuesday super-sectional win marked Coach Justin Fleener's 400th career win as varsity coach at Teutopolis.