Neoga, Altamont to Meet For Sectional Title

Neoga and Altamont claimed victories in the Class 1A Effingham St. Anthony Baseball Regional Wednesday and will now meet for the championship Saturday.

Neoga took a 5-2 win over North Clay/Clay City in the opening contest. Although both teams had runners on base through the first three innings, no one dented the plate until the fourth inning. That's when Neoga busted the game wide open, scoring five runs.

The inning started with an out before Clayton Butler was hit by a pitch. Chase Banning followed with a single. With two outs, Chase Lanham doubled home a run. Two runs came home on Jimmy Wood's double. Drew Ramert followed with a triple, scoring a run and Layne Andrews hit a single that scored the fifth run.

That was all the scoring for the Indians as they went up and down over the next three innings.

North Clay rumbled to life in the fourth also, but left the bases loaded. The Cardinals finally tallied a run in the fifth on two wild pitches and an error.

The Cardinals had two runners on in the sixth but failed to bring them home. Then in the seventh, a walk put a runner on. Briar Repking reached base on a fielder's choice, took second on a wild pitch and came home on an error. But Neoga got out of the frame without further damage for the win.

Ramert had a single, triple and an RBI while Andrews had two singles and an RBI. Wood added a double and two RBI and Lanham a double and an RBI. Banning had two singles.

North Clay was led by Ethan Burkett with a single and an RBI and Luke Fleener with two singles. The Cardinals end the season at 19-8.

In the second contest, Altamont had a huge fourth inning and went on to beat Odin/Patoka 9-4.

Odin/Patoka struck first with a run in the fourth inning. Hunter Jolliff led off with a single. With an out, Mike Planitz singled. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch before Jolliff came home on another wild pitch.

But the Indians broke the game open with a seven-run bottom of the fourth.

Kaleb Whitt led off with a bunt single. Kolby Pemberton was hit by a pitch. Wyat Vaughn followed with a single, scoring a run. Jacob Robbins reached on a fielder's choice. Noah Teasley followed with an RBI single before Noah Kopplin singled. Dawson Guerrettaz drew a walk that brought a run home. Dakota Kuhlman hit a single, scoring another run. Alek Biggs drew another walk that produced another run. Whitt came back to bat for the second time in the inning and singled home a run and the lead went to Altamont 7-1.

Altamont then produced two more runs in the sixth. With one out, Kuhlman doubled. Biggs reached on an error before Whitt produced a double that brought both runners home.

Odin/Patoka rallied in the seventh, scoring three runs. Seth Nix was hit by a pitch and came home on a single by Caleb Jourdan. Brysen Smith singled home a run and later scored. Odin/Patoka ended the season with a 19-6 record.

Altamont (17-12) and Neoga (19-7) will square off for the regional title at 11 a.m. Saturday. The two teams met during the regular season with Neoga taking a 13-11 victory.

Class 1A St. Anthony  Regional

Game 1

Neoga                                     000    500    0    --    5-8-3

North Clay/Clay City             000    010    1    --    2-5-0

WP -- Ramert. LP -- Repking.

Neoga -- Ramert, single, triple, 1 RBI; Andrews, 2 singles, 1 RBI; Banning, 2 singles; Lanham, single, 1 RBI; Wood, double, 2 RBI

North Clay/Clay City -- Aldrich, 2 singles; Burkett, single, 1 RBI; Fleener, 2 singles

Game Two

Odin/Patoka             000    100    3    --    4-8-2

Altamont                   000    700    2    --    9-9-1

WP -- Biggs. LP -- Jolliff.

Odin/Patoka -- Roberts, single; Jourdan, 2 singles, 1 RBI; Smith, 2 singles, 1  RBI; Jolliff, single; Planitz, 2 singles

Altamont -- Kuhlman, single, double, 1 RBI; Biggs, 1 RBI; Whitt, 2 singles, double, 3 RBI; Vaughn, single, 1 RBI; Teasley, 2 singles, 1 RBI; Kopplin, single; Guerrettaz, 1 RBI