Mission Valley wins title
The Mission Valley Vikings edged past Little River 5-4 for the 2-1A state baseball championship at the Great Bend Sports Complex.
MISSION VALLEY 5, LITTLE RIVER 4 (1ST)— The Vikings (20-5) scored three fifth-inning runs for the victory. Keaton Marcotte doubled home Carter Phillips, Marcotte scored on Jonathan Grame’s double. Grame scored on Logan Renken’s balk.
Braden Young and Dalton Mantz reached base in the Redskins’ seventh inning. Second baseman Cade Willard started a double play on Kaden Schafer’s groundball.
Renken scored the Redskins’ second-inning run on a wild pitch. Young scored on Renken’s third-inning sacrifice fly. Young scored on a wild pitch and Mantz scored on an error for a 4-2 lead.
Mission Valley’s Victor Vargas doubled home Willard and Nichols Price in the second inning.
VALLEY FALLS 16, CREST 6 (3RD)—Valley Falls’ Trenton Kraxner, Avery Gatzemeyer, Carson Clark and Logan Martens each drove home three runs in the third-place game. Crest’s Stetson Setter hit a grand slam and drove home five runs.
MISSION VALLEY 14, VALLEY FALLS 4 (SEMIFINAL) – Mission Valley’s Joel Deters homered and drove home three runs in a semifinal victory. Marcotte, Preston Bolte and Vargas each drove in two runs.
LITTLE RIVER 10, CREST 8 (SEMIFINAL) – Little River rallied past unbeaten Crest with a 5-run fifth inning and a 3-run eighth inning. Schafer’s double scored Young and Mantz and Schafer scored on a Stephens double for a 10-7 lead. Schafer drove home four runs.
Little River 011 020 0 – 4 3 0
Mission Valley 020 030 x – 5 9 4
Strecker, Renken (5) and Mantz. Vargas, Deters (3) and Phillips. W—Deters. L—Renken. 2B—LR—Young; MV—Marcotte, Grame. 3B—MV—Vargas.
Valley Falls 005 330 5 – 16 16 1
Crest 000 024 0 – 6 10 2
Evans, Reich (5), Miller (7) and Gatzemeyer. Avery Blaufuss, Nilges (4), Yocham (5), Setter (7) and Setter. W—Evans. L—2B—VF—Gatzemeyer 2, Clark. 3B—VF—Martens. HR—C—Setter.
Little River 100 051 03 – 10 10 4
Crest 123 010 01 – 8 9 2
Renken, Mantz (4) and Mantz, Young (4). Setter, White (5), A. Blaufuss (8) and A. Blaufuss. W—Mantz. L--White. 2B—LR—Schafer 2, Stephens; C—Church. 3B—C--Weir.
Valley Falls 000 400 – 4 7 1
Mission Valley 10(10) 201 – 14 19 0
Kraxner, Miller (3), Evans (4) and Gatzemeyer. Price, Vargas (6) and Phillips. L—Kraxner. 2B—Willard 2, Lowe. Vargas. HR—MV—Deters.
LITTLE RIVER 7, ELKHART 5 — The strategy of Elkhart coach David Aranda backfired when Little River rallied against the Wildcats' relievers. Elkhart ace pitcher Kage Ralstin (6-1) struck out five batters in two innings when Aranda went to the bullpen.
Little River's Kaden Schafer drilled a game-tying 2-run triple against Elkhart reliever Austin Rich (2-1). Ty Herzog's singled home Schafer and Logan Renken scored on an error for a 7-5 lead. After Justin McKinley singled and Weston Hall walked, Little River centerfielder Grant Stephens saved the game with a diving catch on Clayton Cole's pop fly. Braden Young struck out Julian Duran and Logan Renken struck out Tayson Zimmerman to end the game.
Elkhart two three first-inning runs on a bases-loaded hit batter, walk and groundout. Gomez scored on a fourth-inning error after his second hit. Little River's Braden Young earned a bases-loaded walk and Dalton Mantz's RBI single made it 4-2. Elkhart's Julian Duran hit an RBI fifth-inning single for a 5-2 lead. Renekn scored on a sixth-inning wild pitch for a 5-3 score.
CREST 5, COLGAN 3 – Crest pitcher Trevor Church (7-0) struck out seven batters in a nifty 94-pitch outing.
Holden Barker scored on a wild pitch and Church scored on a first-inning error. Gerardo Rodriguez scored on an error and Barker and Ryan Golden delivered RBI singles in a 3-run second inning.
Colgan’s Colin Hite hit an RBI single and scored on an error in 2-run fifth inning. Gus Keller scored on a sixth-inning groundout.
MISSION VALLEY 10, OSWEGO 0 — Mission Valley pitcher Carter Phillips threw a one-hit shutout with nine strikeouts. Preston Bolte and Keaton Marcotte each drove in two runs.
VALLEY FALLS 4, WEST ELK 1 – Valley Falls pitcher Avery Gatzemeyer (8-1) struck out 12 batters and delivered a 2-run double that scored Dylan Cervantez and Trenton Kinxner. Brennan Miller and Hayden Kearney scored on wild pitches.
Little River 000 021 4 – 7 11 4
Elkhart 300 110 x – 5 8 1
Young, Renken (7) and Mantz. Ralstin, Gomez (3), McKinley (5), Rich (7), Gomez (7) and Rich, Gomez (7), Rich (7). W—Young. L—Rich, 2-1. SV—Renken. 2B—E—Gomez. 3B—LR—Schafer.
Colgan 000 020 0 – 3 6 3
Crest 230 000 x – 5 5 1
Kysen Bennett, John Potusek (3) and Simmons. Church and Blaufuss. W—Church, 8-0. L—Bennett, 2-4.
Remington 000 00 – 0 1 0
Mission Valley 402 13 – 10 11 0
Scribner, Lies (5) and Kinley. Phillips and Jones. W–Phillips. L–Scribner. 2B–MV–Peters.
West Elk 001 000 0 – 1 2 1
Valley Falls 020 020 x – 4 7 1
Montgomery and Jones. Gatzemeyer and Jones. W–Gatzemeyer, 8-1. L–Montgomery. 2B–VF–Evans, Gatzemeyer.
