St. Anthony Wins NTC Tourney Title, W/SS Claims 3rd Place Game

 The St. Anthony Bulldogs captured the championship of the National Trail Conference baseball tournament Saturday, edging the Altamont Indians 3-2. 

The Windsor/Stew-Stras Hatchets took third place honors, defeating the North Clay/Clay City Cardinals 8-5. 

Both games were heard on Classic Hits 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

St. Anthony took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. A two-out walk to Will Fearday, after Dillon Elam fanned the first two batters in the inning, was followed by a run-scoring double by Aiden Lauritzen. 

Altamont tied the game in the top of the third on a leadoff infield single by Logan Cornett, an error that allowed Elam to reach base and advance Cornett, and a sacrifice fly by Nathan Stuemke. 

St. Anthony came right back in the bottom of the third, again with two outs. Brock Fearday doubled and Will Hoene singled. Connor Roepke drove home courtesy runner Henry Brent with a single and Will Fearday singled home Hoene to make it 3-1 Bulldogs.

Altamont's Kienon Eirhart made it a one-run game with a homer in the sixth, but that's where the scoring ended.

Brock Fearday went the distance for St. Anthony, allowing two runs, one earned, on six hits, walking one and striking out four.

Elam went four innings for the Indians, allowing all three runs on five hits and two walks, fanning five. Aden McManaway pitched the final two innings, giving up a hit and a walk with one strikeout.

At the plate for St. Anthony: Beau Adams--walk, stolen base; Brock Fearday--double; Henry Brent--run scored; Will Hoene--single, run scored; Connor Roepke--two singles, RBI; Will Fearday--single, walk, run scored; Aiden Lauritzen--double, RBI.

At the plate for Altamont: Nathan Stuemke--RBI; Jared Hammer--double; Kienon Eirhart--home run, run scored, RBI; Logan Cornett--two singles, run scored; Dillon Elam--single; Carter Siebert--single

St. Anthony finishes the fall with a record of 24-3. Altamont wraps up the fall at 20-5. 

Windsor/Stew-Stras 8,  North Clay/Clay City  5 (3rd Place)

In the third place game, Windsor/Stew-Stras took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, North Clay tied it 1-1 in the second, then the Hatchets scored three times in the second inning to take a 4-1 lead. The Hatchets made it 6-1 in the fourth, but the Cardinals exploded for four runs in the fifth inning to pull within 6-5. The Hatchets, though, scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to account for the three-run win.

The Wittenberg twins took care of things on the mound for the Hatchets. Austin pitched the first 4-2/3 innings, allowing all five runs, but only one earned run, on six hits and one walk. Jordan pitched the final 2-1/3 innings, allowing just one hit and fanning three.

Alex Boose pitched the first two innings for the Cardinals, allowing four runs, none of them earned, on three hits and two walks with one strikeout. Jack Compton pitched 1-2/3 innings, giving up two runs, neither earned, on two hits. Ian Jones pitched the final 2-1/3 innings, giving up two runs, only one earned, on two hits and a walk with one strikeout.

At the plate for W/SS: Austin Wittenberg--single, walk, three runs scored; Carter Chaney--double, single, run scored, RBI; Tyler Wetherell-three hit by pitches, run scored, RBI; Jordan Wittenberg--walk, 2 RBI; Kendall Morris--single, RBI; Rhett Rincker--single, run scored, RBI; Jackson Gurgel--double; Connor Manhart--single, run scored; Ben Bridges--walk, run scored, RBI

Windsor/Stew-Stras closes the fall campaign with a 16-4 record. North Clay/Clay City finished the campaign at 15-12-1.