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Five Points Bank Jr. Game Stats
Wood River returns with a bang
Wood River's magical season ends with loss

 

DODGE -- Wood River's magical first season reviving its dormant American Legion program came to a conclusion on Monday.

Dodge-Scribner-Howells relief pitcher Justin Sindelar held Wood River to two hits over the final 4 1/3 innings to win an elimination game 7-3 in the Class C Juniors Tournament.

Sindelar entered the game with his team up 4-2 but with starter Curtis Popken fading. Sindelar maintained that lead by striking out seven and only walking two.

"He threw a pretty good fastball," Wood River coach Kevin Asher said. "We probably beat ourselves enough on the defensive side to let him rear back and throw."

Things went well for Wood River early as it tried to transform its first ever state appearance into a run into the final day. Starting pitcher Shane Smith doubled in the bottom of the first and scored on an error.

But D-S-H had six straight batters reach against Smith in the third and scored four runs. Two came on Derek Kampschneider's double.

Sindelar shut Wood River down the rest of the way and the lead grew to 7-2 entering the bottom of the ninth.

Jake Stutzman led off by reaching on an error and Beau Bushong followed with a single. With one out Adam Thompson singled in Stutzman, cutting the lead to four and giving the team runners at the corners. But an odd double play was turned by D-S-H to end the game, with the third out being due to a runners' interference call.

Adam Thompson went 2-for-3 to lead Wood River at the plate.

Asher said his team struggled after D-S-H took the lead.

"It is tough to get down to a really good team," he said. "You try to play differently offensively. I don't know if it took a bit out of our kids' confidence. We didn't make the right plays in the middle of the game when they had their (big) inning."

But Wood River made some noise by finishing in the top four in its class with its first Legion team in 20 years.

"We made a lot of people in central Nebraska raise their eyebrows," Asher said. "We knew if we got this thing going, it would work with this great group of kids. They did things right off the field, too."

Now a new challenge awaits, as Asher said many of these players will be moved up next year when Wood River tries to add a Seniors team to its program.

"We had a lot of community support to help us get here," he said. "This team is something Wood River can be proud of."

D-S-H  004 101 1 -- 7 7 1

Wood River  101 000 1 -- 3 6 3

WP--Sindelar. LP--Sh. Smith. 2B--DSH, Kampschneider. WR--Sh. Smith, Thompson. HR--DSH, Popken.

Wakefield 16, D-C-B 7

Wakefield answered Dannebrog-Cairo-Boelus' big shot with a bigger one of its own to post a 16-7 win Monday.

The win allowed Wakefield to move into today's championship game undefeated.

D-C-B erased a 4-2 deficit with a 5-run top of the fourth. The big blow was catcher Nick Moss' 2-run homer over the fence in left field.

But Wakefield answered with its own five run fifth to take the lead for good. Right fielder Cory Gustafson had a 3-run homer to left field to move Wakefield ahead.

"We gave them some runs," D-C-B coach Ryan Rathke said. "We didn't think they would score this many against us. We had some errors that hurt us. Their three runs in the first were unearned."

D-C-B had a chance to close in during the sixth after loading the bases with one out. Moss returned to the plate, but his liner to second baseman Ben Henderson set up a picture perfect unassisted double play.

"It was close until the end," Rathke said. "In the sixth we had the lineout double play or else we could have had a chance to tie it."

The top of the lineup came through in the fourth for D-C-B's big inning. Tyler Gorecki, Jordan Rathke and Moss strung together consecutive hits to key the five-run frame. They were responsible for six of D-C-B's nine hits in the game.

"The consecutive hits were key there," Ryan Rathke said. "And (Moss) has had a real strong tournament."

Despite the loss, Rathke said his team had nothing to be ashamed about.

"I'm proud of the kids," he said. "We played a good team. I think Wakefield will win tomorrow. They played better than we did. They're the best team in the state, but we're right behind them."

D-C-B  200 500 0 -- 7 9 6

Wakefield  301 255 x -- 16 12 1

WP--Nixon. LP--Monter. 2B--DCB, Ty. Gorecki, DeWitt. W, Blatchford, Bierbower. 3B--W, Soderberg. HR--DCB, Moss. W. Gustafson.

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After an almost 20-year hiatus, Wood River American Legion baseball has returned with a bang this summer.

The town is fielding a Juniors team for the first time since 1986. The two decade layoff hasn't prevented Wood River from having a successful year.

The team entered the week 15-9, having won seven of its last eight games. Wood River also earned the No. 2 seed for the 8-team Class C, Area 5 Tournament at Sutton. It will begin play Friday against Red Cloud at 8 p.m.

Head coach Kevin Asher said a lot of work had to be done before a team was even put onto a field.

"Any time you start something new, you need finances and get support from the community," he said. "We went out and solicited donors to pay for equipment and uniforms. The response was excellent. The Legion post paid our insurance and entry fees."

Asher said the support from the community didn't end with helping finance the team.

"We've only had four home games all year, but we've had big crowds at home," he said. "People are excited. It gives kids something to do in the summer. They can watch their buddies play baseball."

The second challenge to starting a program from scratch was scheduling. With only the four home games, Wood River has stayed busy traveling to towns such as Schuyler, Lexington or Ord.

A young team, with most players under the Junior maximum of 16-years old, has matured quickly, as evidenced by the recent winning ways.

"We only had eight to 10 kids who needed to play at this level," Asher said. "We picked up some kids who could have still played Pony League. We have 14 kids out, so we have 10-12 each game due to other summer activities and commitments."

That success has the team hoping of an area tournament title, which would result in a state tournament trip to Dodge.

"We've played some of our best baseball since the middle of June," Asher said. "The kids now understand what it takes to win at the Junior level.

"I think our schedule has prepared us for districts. We've played a predominately Class B schedule. It has been a challenge, but from coaching these kids in basketball, I thought the caliber of athletes we had would allow us to be a competitive team."

Although the team is focused on extending its already successful season, the long-term future also looks bright for Wood River Legion baseball.

"We're prepared to join (the Central Plains) League next year," Asher said, which will help ease scheduling problems. "We also hope to add a Seniors team next year. We'll move some (Juniors) up early."

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Five Points Bank Jr. Game Stats from Independent