Wooden Shoes Onto Final Four; Hemmen Throws No-Hitter

The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes have reached baseball's Class 2A Final Four, posting a 3-0 win Monday evening over the Harrisburg Bulldogs. 

The game was highlighted by a no-hitter pitched by the Wooden Shoes' Mitch Hemmen.

The contest was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com.

Hemmen had a perfect game until two outs in the seventh, when a ground ball to shortstop Dawson Smith resulted in a fielding error. Hemmen retired the next batter to complete the no-hitter.

Teutopolis scored in the third inning following a leadoff walk to Brady McMahon. A bunt by Justin Hardiek moved the runner into scoring position, a ground ball by Smith moved him to third, and a base hit by Luke Ungrund brought home the run.

The Shoes scored again in the fourth following a one-out walk to Mitch Hardiek. A ground ball, a walk to Tyler Runde and a run scoring single by McMahon made it 2-0.

Teutopolis scored the final run in the sixth after a leadoff single to Clint Weber. Following two ground ball outs, Runde singled home Weber to push the lead to 3-0.

Meanwhile, Hemmen was mowing down the Harrisburg hitters. He threw just 86 pitches, striking out three.

At the plate for Teutopolis: Mitch Hemmen--walk; Dawson Smith--two singles; Luke Ungrund--single, RBI; Clint Weber, single, stolen base, run scored; Mitch Hardiek--walk, run scored; Tyler Runde--walk, single, RBI; Brady McMahon--two walks, single, run scored, RBI; Justin Hardiek--sacrifice.

Isaac Crabb took the loss for Harrisburg, battling a cramp through the final few innings. 

Harrisburg finished the season 30-9.

Meanwhile, the Wooden Shoes are now 26-8-1. They will play Friday at 5pm at Dozer Park in Peoria against Rock Island Alleman, who won the Rock Island Augusta College Super-Sectional, 7-5, over Brimfield. If the Shoes win that contest, they will play for the state championship at 5pm Saturday. If they lose Friday, they will play for third place at 3pm.