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HARTINGTON — The Hartington Post 4 American Legion Juniors advanced to the North Division finals of the Ralph Bishop League Tournament with a 10-2 win over the Plainview Legion Post 148 Juniors on June 30 in a game played at Felber Park.
Earlier in the tournament, Post 4 blasted Ponca 15-0 on June 28 to get to the division semifinals.
In the game with Plainview, Post 4 jumped on their guests with four runs in the first inning then added three in the third.
Hartington scored two more in the fourth and ended the game by the eightrun rule in the fifth with a single run.
In the four-run first, Hudson Whitmire led off the Hartington half inning with a single to right field.
Tate Fischer followed with another base hit, this one back up the middle into center field.
Hunter Bensen came to the plate and laced a double to center which scored Whitmire and left Fischer on third base.
Grady Haberer made it four consecutive hits with a single to right field which scored Fischer and Bensen.
Drey Puppe made it five straight with a line shot into right field which scored Bensen, but Haberer was thrown out trying to advance to third on the play.
Micah Cattau laced a hot shot into right field, but the right fielder made a nice play.
The sixth hit of the frame for Post 4, by Sam Wiebelhaus, chased Puppe home and Hartington was in front 4-0.
A Plainview error, three singles and a couple of walks added up to three runs in the Hartington second.
Whitmire, Fischer and Bensen all scored in the inning and Post 4 was on its way.
Haberer doubled in the fourth then Cattau ripped a triple past the center fielder and the lead was up to eight then moved to nine when Wiebelhaus took advantage of a Plainview error which scored Cattau.
Plainview crossed the plate twice in the top of the fifth, but Gavin Klug worked a walk to open the Post 4 fifth then stole second.
He advanced to third on a ground out then scored to end the game by the run rule.
Cattau allowed just three hits in his five innings of work on the hill, walked three and struck out eight to get the win.
A huge second inning got Hartington past Ponca in the tournament’s opening round.
After scoring a couple of runs in the first frame, Hartington’s bats erupted for eight runs in the second to basically put the game on ice.
Whitmire led the way, scoring three times in the three-inning contest, which was ended by the 15-run rule. He was 2-for-3 in the game.
Bensen, Keaton Keiser, Haberer and Puppe each scored twice with Haberer and Wiebelhaus drilling doubles on the evening.
Klug got the win on the mound tossing a three-inning no-hitter while striking out four batters and issuing no walks.
Post 4 will travel to Hank Overin Field in Wayne July 3 for the Ralph Bishop League North Division finals where they will take on Wayne Rolling Hills Supply Post 43 Juniors with first pitch set for 5:30 p.m.
The two teams butted heads back on June 18 with Rolling Hills holding on for a 6-5 win over Hartington.
The winner of that game will advance to the Ralph Bishop League finals against the winner of the South Division. The championship game will be played on July 5.
PLV000002XX-233 HAR 4 3 0 2 1 X X - 10 11 2 WP: Micah Cattau LP: L. Kohen. 2B: Grady Haberer, Hunter Bensen (H). 3B: Micah Cattau (H). Lineup AB R H RBI BB SO Hudson Whitmire 4 2 2 0 0 0 Tate Fischer 3 2 2 1 0 0 Hunter Bensen 3 2 2 1 0 1 Grady Haberer 2 1 2 1 1 0 Drey Puppe 2 1 1 2 1 0 Micah Cattau 3 1 1 1 0 1 Sam Wiebelhaus 3 0 1 1 0 0 Dawson Dresden 3 0 0 0 0 3 Gavin Klug 2 1 0 0 1 0 TEAM 25 10 11 7 3 5 Hartington Post 4 Juniors defeated Ponca Post 117 Juniors 15-0. PON000XXXX-005 HAR285XXXX-1580 WP: Gavin Klug LP: J. Claypool. 2B: Sam Wiebelhaus, Hunter Bensen (H). Lineup AB R H RBI BB SO Hudson Whitmire 3 3 2 0 0 0 Tate Fischer 1 0 0 1 0 0 Rylan Fischer 1 1 0 0 0 1 Hunter Bensen 2 2 2 2 0 0 Keaton Keiser 0 2 0 0 1 0 Grady Haberer 2 2 0 1 1 0 Micah Cattau 2 1 0 0 1 1 Drey Puppe 2 2 1 1 1 1 Sam Wiebelhaus 2 1 1 0 1 1 Dawson Dresden 2 1 2 2 1 0 Gavin Klug 2 0 0 0 0 0 TEAM 19 15 8 7 6 4
