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WAYNE - The Hartington Post 4 American Legion baseball team wound up fourth in the Ralph Bishop League Tournament after dropping the third-place contest to the West Point Senior Legion Bombers, 6-1 at Hank Overin Field.
Post 4 was sent to the third-place game by Wayne Rolling Hills Supply Post 43 Seniors with a 9-1 loss on July 3 in the North Division finals after arriving in the division finals with a 16-1 win over Crofton on July 1.
Hartington took on the West Point Bombers on July 6 in a game originally scheduled for July 5.
Hitting woes plagued Post 4 in the last two games of the league tournament, including this game with the Bombers.
Hartington had six hits in the game but only managed one run for the second consecutive game. Some of that was due to the pitching, but hitting has been a sore spot on and off during the season.
“We really need to hit the ball better as a group,” said Hartington manager, Don Whitmire. “We play solid defense and our pitching has been solid enough to win, we just need to get more quality at bats and get some people on base.”
The game was scoreless through the first three innings as Post 4 starter, Koby Detlefsen and West Point starter Logan Rolf squared off on the hill.
Detlefsen walked Rolf with one out in the fourth then back-to-back singles, an error by Hartington and fly out to center field resulted in four runs for the Bombers.
Micah Cattau got on to open the Post half of the fifth with a ground ball back up the middle followed by a Tate Fischer double after Cattau stole second base and Hartington got the zero off the scoreboard but a couple of strikeouts and a fly ball ended the threat.
Post 4 had a good start to the sixth when Detlefsen singled into left field, but the courtesy runner was caught stealing second and another runner, who had walked was picked off of first base wasted a couple of runners and a two-out single by Drey Puppe.
Hartington went down in order in the seventh and the Bombers took the game by the 6-1 final score.
In the North Division finals against Wayne Rolling Hills Post 43, Rolling Hills pitcher, Ethan Synovec befuddled the Post 4 hitters all night as he tossed a two-hit, 1-run gem to put the game away in five innings by the 8-run rule.
Brady Hochstein had a solid performance on the mound for Post 4, giving up just six earned runs and he earned one of the two hits Hartington had in the game along with Cattau. Detlefsen scored the lone run for Post 4.
A 10-run second inning propelled Hartington over Crofton in the second round of the tournament.
After plating three runs in the first frame, Hartington exploded for five hits in the second from Mav Heine, Hunter Bensen, Grady Haberer, Puppe and Detlefsen, add in four walks, an error and a couple of hit batters, you have the recipe for 10 runs.
Breiton Whitmire scored twice, Dylan Taylor scored twice and Heine, Fischer, Haberer, Hochstein, Puppe and Bensen each crossed the plate once to put Hartington in front, 13-1 heading into the third inning.
Detlefsen worked all four innings on the mound, allowing just three hits, no earned runs and striking out five Crofton batters.
Whitmire scored three times in the game, Taylor, Bensen, Fischer, Haberer and Puppe all scored twice.
Puppe was 3-for-4 at the plate with four RBI’s. The Hartington Post 4 Seniors were set to take on Stanton in a doubleheader on July 7 at Felber Park before hosting Tabor July 9.
West Point Bombers def Hartington Senior Legion 6-1. WPB0004020-670 HAR0000100-162 WP: Logan Rolf LP: Koby Detlefsen.
2B: Tate Fischer (H); Luke Guenther (W). Lineup AB R H RBI BB SO Breiton Whitmire 3 0 0 0 1 2 Dylan Taylor 3 0 0 0 1 0 Hunter Bensen 3 0 0 0 0 2 Koby Detlefsen 3 0 1 0 0 0 Grady Haberer\\ 2 0 0 0 1 2 Brady Hochstein2 0 1 0 1 0 Drey Puppe 3 0 1 0 0 1 Micah Cattau 3 1 1 0 0 1 Tate Fischer 3 0 2 1 0 0 TEAM 25 1 6 1 4 9 Wayne Rolling Hills Supply Senior Legion defeated Hartington Post 4 Senior Legion 9-1. HAR00010XX-122 WAY00432XX-9122 WP: Ethan Synovec LP: Breiton Whitmire. 2B: Ethan Synovec, Hayden Kelley (W). 3B: Drew Reinhardt (W). Lineup AB R H RBI BB SO Breiton Whitmire 3 0 0 0 0 3 Dylan Taylor 2 0 0 0 0 0 Hunter Bensen 2 0 0 0 0 1 Koby Detlefsen 1 1 0 0 1 0 Grady Haberer 2 0 0 0 0 0 Brady Hochstein 2 0 1 1 0 1 Drey Puppe 2 0 0 0 0 2 Sam Wiebelhaus 1 0 0 0 0 1 Micah Cattau 2 0 1 0 0 0 TEAM 17 1 2 1 1 8 Hartington Post 4 Senior Legion def, Crofton Senior Legion 16-1. CRO1000XXX-133 HAR 3 10 1 2 X X X - 16 9 1 WP: Koby Detlefsen LP: Zach Tramp. 2B: Brady Hochstein (H); J. Drotzman (C). Lineup AB R H RBI BB SO Breiton Whitmire 1 3 0 0 3 0 Dylan Taylor 1 2 1 0 1 0 Gavin Klug 1 0 0 0 0 0 Grady Haberer 4 2 1 0 0 0 Brady Hochstein 3 1 1 1 0 2 Drey Puppe 3 2 3 4 1 0 Sam Wiebelhaus 3 0 0 1 0 1 Mav Heine 2 1 1 0 1 0 TEAM 20 16 9 12 10 3
