St. Anthony is NTC Tournament Champion

The St. Anthony Bulldogs won the National Trail Conference Tournament championship Friday night with a 6-4 win over the Altamont Indians.

St. Anthony took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. With one out, Ben Mendella walked and advanced to second on a passed ball. Drew Gibson then walked and Greg Utz singled Mendella home. Will Clausius then reached on an error, scoring Gibson, but a pair of strikeouts ended the inning. 

Altamont got on the board with a run in the second. Branden Hosick doubled with one out and came around to score on an error to make it 2-1.

The Indians then tied the game in the fourth inning. Klaiton Wolff singled with one out, Dawson Guerrettaz doubled him to third, and Hosick delivered a sacrifice fly to plate Wolff with the tying run.

No one scored until the game went to an eighth inning when St. Anthony busted loose. 

With one out, Bryar Jansen reached on an error and then Mendella reached on an error with Altamont missing a chance on a fielder's choice. A passed ball then allowed Jansen to score the go-ahead run. Gibson then singled and Altamont then decided to intentionally walk Bulldogs' cleanup hitter Greg Utz, which loaded the bases, to get to Clausius. That strategy backfired, as Clausius delivered a bases-clearing double to make it 6-2.

Altamont didn't quit, though. 

Kolby Pemberton singled to lead off the bottom of the eighth and Nick Miller tripled him home to make it a 6-3 game. Caden Miller then reached on an error, scoring Nick Miller, and Wolff singled, but the rally ended there and St. Anthony had the victory.

Bryar Jansen got the win for St. Anthony, with Adam Levitt coming in to squelch the Altamont rally in the eighth and picking up the save. Wolff took the loss, pitching into the eighth, with Caden Miller picking up the last two outs.

At the plate for St. Anthony: Bryar Jansen--run; Ben Mendella--walk, two runs; Drew Gibson--two singles, walk, two runs; Greg Utz--single, walk, run, RBI; Will Clausius--double, 3 RBI; Jacob Guy--single

At the plate for Altamont: Nick Miller--double, triple, run; Klaiton Wolff--two singles, walk, run; Dawson Guerrettaz--double; Branden Hosick--double, run; Kolby Pemberton--single, run

   --

In a contest that went 13 innings, South Central defeated Brownstown/St. Elmo for third place honors, 4-3.

South Central scored twice in the first, but BSE tied the game in the third and then took a 3-2 lead in the fifth. South Central tied it, though, with a run in the sixth. That's where things stood until the Cougars scored in the bottom of the 13th for the win.

Raterman got the win with four innings of scoreless relief, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out nine. Noah Flowers took the loss, giving up only the winning run in 7-plus innings of relief. Flowers allowed five hits and seven walks, four intentional, while fanning four. Feezel for BSE and Geiler for SC threw well in starting roles, each allowing three runs.

At the plate for South Central: Raterman went four for five, Harmeier three for five, Hill two for four, Markley two for five, McCown one for six, and Matheny one for five.

At the plate for BSE: Lewis Brown was one for five with a RBI, Landon Feezel was one for six with a triple and RBI, Hunter Seaton one for four, Isaac Maxey one for six, and Rocky Himes one for five, a double.

South Central improved to 10-7, while BSE fell to 9-12.

   --

The consolation championship game also went extra innings, with North Clay scoring twice in the eighth inning to defeat Dieterich, 3-1.

Dieterich scored in the second to take a 1-0 lead, but North Clay tied the game with a run in the sixth. That set the stage for North Clay's winning rally in the eighth.

Warren got the win in relief for the Cardinals, going five innings and allowing four hits and a walk while striking out four. Repking had pitched the first three innings, allowing one run on one hit and three walks while recording one strikeout.

Goedde took the loss for Dieterich, allowing the two eighth inning runs, one earned, in two innings of work, giving up two hits and walking two. P. Thoele had pitched the first six innings, allowing one urn on five hits, while striking out seven while walking no one.

At the plate for North Clay: Lovett--two singles, two runs; Warren--two singles, run; B. Repking--single, RBI; Blank--walk; Zimmerman--single and walk; Robinson--single

At the plate for Dieterich: M. Goedde--single; C. Thoele--single and walk; T. Poe--single and walk; R. Radloff--double and single; M. Esker--walk and run; D. Flach--walk

Dieterich finished the fall season with a 13-10 record.