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MALCOLM — The site changed but the results did not.
Last summer Hartington and Malcolm played each other in the Class C Junior American Legion baseball tournament in Hartington at Felber Park with Malcolm Post 354 defeating Post 4 1-0 to win a second consecutive state title.
This summer, the site was Malcolm, but the result was still the same as Malcolm grabbed a spot in Wednesday’s final with another 1-0 decision over Hartington to move on to take on Loomis Tuesday, while Hartington will move on to play Meridian-Tri County.
Depending on who wins those games, Hartington and Malcolm could face off again in the finals.
“You just have to tip your hat to them and move on, they made a couple of more plays than we did,” said Hartington manager, Don Whitmire. “We didn’t get the big hit or hits we needed and they did. That’s baseball.”
Malcolm broke a scoreless tie in the third and it turned out to be the game’s lone run.
“We just couldn’t get that one hit, the big hit,” Whitmire said. “Again, tip your cap to them and their pitching. They made the plays, at least one more than we did.”
Malcolm singled to open their at bat in the third and bunted the runner to second.
Post 4 pitcher Easton Hochstein was called for a balk moving the runner to third.
Brixon Meyer hit a sharp ground ball to Hartington shortstop, Grady Haberer, who scooped up the ball and threw Meyer out, but Malcolm scored on the play.
Hudson Whitmire doubled with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but was stranded there when the next Post 4 batter struck out.
Hartington loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but that’s when “that’s baseball” showed up.
Sam Wiebelhaus opened the Hartington fifth with a walk, then, after a strikeout, Whitmire and Tate Fischer both singled to leave the bases full.
Wiebelhaus was thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice, thanks to a great play by Malcolm’s shortstop then Whitmire was thrown out trying to make it home on a wild pitch on an extremely close play at the plate.
Meanwhile, Hochstein was in the middle of a pitching masterpiece, keeping Malcolm from scoring for the final three innings, allowing a single hit in the contest, walking one and striking out 10 Malcolm batters.
“Easton showed his ‘heart of a champion’ the entire night,” said Coach Whitmire. “Malcolm is one of the best hitting teams in the state and he kept them silent all night.
“We were talking earlier in the year after we played St. Paul and he pitched and won. I said if he comes through like that for us for the rest of the season, we could really have something special. He did and you saw that tonight.”
Hudson Whitmire had a productive night at the plate, finishing the night 3-for-4 with a double to open the Hartington offense in the first frame.
After the loss, Post 4 was one of four remaining teams in the tournament, which implemented a pre-determined ruling in Legion Baseball which, if possible, allows teams to play a different opponent if the two teams had not previously played each other in the tournament.
Malcolm took on Loomis in Tuesday’s nightcap, which would eliminate Loomis if Post 354 wins, but Malcolm will advance to the finals regardless.
Loomis was previously beaten by Post 4 and Malcolm had defeated Tri County earlier in the tournament Post 4 took on Meridian Tri County at 4 p.m. in a traditional elimination game.
If Loomis wins, the winner of the Post 4 versus Tri County game would take on Loomis for a “winner take all” semifinal to advance to a one-game final with Malcolm.
If Malcolm defeats Loomis, the winner of the Hartington versus Tri County game would need to beat the host team twice to claim the state title.
MAL0010000-110 HAR0000000-051 WP: Chase Smith LP: Easton Hochstein S: Brixon Meyer. 2B: Hudson Whitmire (H).
