POST 152 EYEING REGION 4B TITLE THIS AFTERNOON
Quality at-bats in the top of the seventh inning turned a 4-4 tie into a 7-4 lead — and ultimately a win — for the Post 152 Senior Legion over Tabor in Platte Wednesday afternoon, July 23. The win moves the 79ers into the championship round Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m.against Tabor — again — which stayed alive with a 9-2 win over Wagner later Wednesday night.
Post 152 is 16-11. Tabor is 12-7.
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If the 79ers win Thursday afternoon they move on to the state tournament in Milbank Aug. 1-5. If they lose there will be a second game against Tabor to determine the region champion.
Wednesday’s win over Tabor was the second of the Region 4B Tournament for Post 152, which defeated Wagner 6-1 in the opening round on Tuesday. The 79ers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI single by Sawyer Wipf that scored Tayden Kerrigan, and then plated three more in the fourth on an RBI single by Easton Tschetter that scored Luke Peters, and then a 2-RBI single by Kory Keppen that scored Wipf and Izayah Ulmer.
But Tabor responded with one run in the fourth, two in the fifth and another in the sixth to tie the game at 4-4, but left two would-be-go-ahead runners in scoring position.
That’s when Post 152 regained control of the game in the final inning.
It started with an Easton Miller single and a steal of second that was followed by an RBI single from Kerrigan. Pinch hitter Oliver Waltner then singled to score Kerrigan to make it a 6-4 game, and then Ulmer — pinch running for Waltner — scored from third on a sacrifice fly by Tschetter to bring the game to its final score of 7-4.
Tannen Auch, on in relief of starter Trent Guthmiller, recorded the last four outs to earn the win.
“We did everything we possibly could to lose this ball game, and yet you guys showed that you’ve got a lot of heart and came back to win the seventh inning,” coach Dustin Tschetter told the team after the game. “We could have folded after giving up the four-run lead, but you showed a lot of heart and a lot of determination, came back and got it done. Now we’ve got one more to go get.”
Keppen went 4-for-4 and Kerrigan was 3-for-4 to lead the 79ers from the plate. Keppen and Tschetter both had two RBI, and Kerrigan, Wipf and Waltner each with one.
Guthmiller threw 5 1/3 innings, giving up three earned runs on nine hits, striking out three and walking two. Auch allowed one hit in 1 2/3 innings pitched.
