Seniors pick up three wins during busy week on diamond
HARTINGTON — The Hartington Post 4 Senior American Legion baseball team added three wins to its season total during a week that saw the squad in action four times.
The lone loss came in the last game played Monday, a 6-3 setback to West Point in Hartington.
Earlier in the week, Post 4 defeated Wakefield 5-1 on June 14; took care of Tekamah-Herman 10-7 on June 16; and slipped past Pierce 5-4 on June 17.
In the loss to West Point, the Hartington Seniors broke the ice in the fourth inning with a couple of runs.
Jaxson Bernecker started the inning with a single down the third-base line with one out in the frame.
Koby Detlefsen came to the plate and slapped a double to right field, sending Bernecker to third.
Tyan Baller hit a ground ball to the shortstop for an out, but Bernecker scored on the play and Detlefsen moved to third.
With two outs, Detlefsen scored on a passed ball before a strikeout ended the inning.
Bernecker was on the mound and held West Point scoreless through five innings before giving way to Jaymison Cattau in the the sixth with one out.
The West Point bats came to life in the sixth, scoring four runs on only one hit.
Hartington answered with a run in the bottom of the inning when Baller pushed Dylan Taylor across the plate with a ground ball to first. Taylor had gotten on base on a dropped third strike.
West Point put up two more runs in the top of the seventh before Post 4 went down in order in the bottom of the inning.
In the game against Pierce, Hartington came from behind early in the game and scored two runs in the final inning to literally steal the game as the winning run was scored when Breiton Whitmire stole home on the final play.
Carson Arens opened the seventh with a single to center field with Post 4 trailing 4-3.
Arens stole second before Whitmire earned a walk.
Both players advanced on a double steal while Taylor was at bat.
Taylor singled past the shortstop, scoring Arens and sending Whitmire to third.
Pierce intentionally walked Bernecker, and after two balls were thrown to Detlefsen, Whitmire was off to the races and swiped home plate for the win.
Dan Puppe pitched three inning before retiring with the score tied at 3-3 at the end of the third, giving way to Detlefsen, who held Pierce scoreless the rest of the way to pick up the win.
Whitmire paced Post 4 in the win over Tekamah-Herman with five big hits in the game. He tripled in the fourth frame, singled in the first, second and seventh innings and scored four times.
The score was tied after one inning, but Hartington plated three runs in the top of the second to take a 4-2 advantage after two.
Post 4 added a couple of runs in the third and one in the fourth before Tekamah-Herman responded with a five-run fifth to make it 7-5 with Hartington still in front.
Two runs in the Hartington half of the sixth and another in the top of the seventh ended the scoring for the contest.
Weston Heine, Baller and Taylor all doubled in the game and Taylor tripled along with the triple by Whitmire.
Whitmire made it a complete game as he grabbed the win on the hill after pitching two and one-third innings in relief of Heine and Arens.
Lukas Wortmann was the story of the 5-1 win over Wakefield.
Wortmann limited Wakefield to only four hits in his seven-inning, complete-game outing and recorded 10 strikeouts.
Post 4 scored all of the runs it would need in the first inning when Whitmire and Taylor both scored.
Hartington added a run in the third by Arens, who was chased home by a Taylor double, and tacked on a couple of runs in the fourth by Heine and Cole Rosener.
Wortmann gave up the lone run of the game to Wakefield in the top of the sixth.
Hartington is set to take on Pender June 21 at home. Post 4 took a 10-7 record into that contest.
West Point defeats Hartington
West Point 000 004 2 - 6 5 0 Hartington 000 201 0 - 3 9 4 WP: Kreikemeier LP: Jaymison Cattau. 2B: Kreikemeier, Rolf (WP); Koby Detlefson (H). Pierce 301 000 0 - 4 3 1 Hartington 120 000 2 - 5 8 0 WP: Koby Detlefson LP: Anderson. 2B: Dan Puppe (H).
Hartington defeats Tekamah-Herman Hartington 132 102 1 - 10 13 0 Tekamah-Herman 110 050 0 - 7 11 0 WP: Breiton Whitmire LP: Tobin. 2B: Tyan Baller, Dylan Taylor, Weston Heine (H); Zinkl (T-H). 3B: Whitmire, Taylor (H); Pagels (T-H). Wakefield 000 001 0 - 1 4 2 Hartington 201 200 X - 5 9 0 WP: Lukas Wortmann LP: Kaufman. 2B: Weston Heine, Dylanj Taylor (H). 3B: Dan Puppe (H); Gabe Lamprecht (W).