Legion teams swing into season

RANDOLPH – Randolph’s American Legion Seniors team start the season 1-3, winning one at home in a double header against Atkinson.

The seniors won the first game in the double header, 13-12.

Randolph sparked a huge six-run first inning and backed it up with a four-run second inning and a three-run third inning. Going into the top of the fourth inning, the score was 13-4 in favor of Randolph but in the top of the fourth, disaster almost struck as Atkinson dished out eight runs. Thankfully for Randolph it was only eight as neither Atkinson nor Randolph scored again for the remainder of the game leaving the score at 13-12 and resulting in Randolph’s first win of the season.

Pitching was Randolph’s strong suit in the first three innings which was commanded by Joe Miller with four strike-outs and two shutouts. The bats were also alive for Randolph, elevated by the play of Gabe Wortman who went 2-2 and tallied three RBIs.

ATKN 0 4 0 8 0 RAND 6 4 3 0 X Batting—M0, RBIels, 1-3,R,H,BB,4SB; S Backer, 1-3,R,H,BB,K,2SB; C Beal, 0-1,3R,5SB; A Gubbels, 1-3,R,H,2RBI,K,SB; J Miller, 1-2,R,BB,3SB; G Jensen; C Korth, 1-3,2R,RBI; I Salmon, 0-1,2R,2BB,K,2SB; J Calder,0-0,RBI,2BB,SB; D Winkelbauer, 0-1; G Wortman, 2-2,2B,3RBI,SB;K Gardener, R.

Pitching—J Miller, 3.1IP,5H,6R,3ER,4BB,4K; J Calder, 0IP,3R,3ER; D Winkelbauer, 1.2IP, 3H,3R,3ER,4BB,2K.

The second game started in the exact opposite way as the first with Atkinson rattling off 13 runs in the first two innings. And from there, the game was never close.

But the Randolph Seniors team continued to fight into the later innings, posting six runs in the fourth and fifth innings.

Walks were an issue for Randolph in both games of the double header, but it really stung in the second game as Randolph awarded Atkinson with 12 free bases.

“We need to throw strikes and in practice take every rep more seriously than the last,” said Aiden Gubbels who pitches as well as plays first base.

Hitting for the team continued to be a bright spot and this was boosted by the performance of Matt Gubbels who went 2-3 with an RBI and a walk. Pitching was an ugly spot in the second game, but Kaleb Gardner rallied in the second inning and pitched two innings where he posted four strikeouts and only three runs.

The final score: Atkinson, 17, Randolph, 7.

ATKN 11 2 1 2 1 RAND 0 1 0 3 3 Batting—M Gubbels, 2-3,R,RBI,1BB,K; S Backer, 1-2,R,K; T Korth, 0-1,R,RBI; C Beal, 1-3,R,BB,K; A Gubbels, 1-4,RBI,2K; J Miller, 0-2,BB,2K; C Korth, 1-1; I Salmon, 0-2,R,BB,K; G Wortman,0-1,K; K Gardener, 0-2,R,BB,2K; G Jensen, 0-0,3BB; R Engel,R.

Pitching—I Salmon,0.1IP,2H,8R,8ER,4BB,1K; G Wortman, 0.2IP,2H,3R,3ER,3BB,2K; K Gardner, 2IP,4H,3R,3ER,4BB,4K; G Wortman, 2IP,4H,3R,3ER,1BB,2K The seniors season started with a whopper of a loss, 15-0, to Hartington, last week.

The game looked like it was going to be a competitive one as it was 1-0 Hartington going into the bottom of the third. But that’s when things took a turn.

In the bottom of the third, the bats for Hartington sparked as they rattled off nine runs and backed up those runs in the next inning with five more.

Pitching was a struggle for Randolph as they didn’t earn a strikeout and had 12 walks in 3.1 innings of pitching. Unfortunately, the Seniors team couldn’t get anything going with their bats either with only one hit recorded on the night.

Randolph 0 0 0 0 Hartington 1 0 9 5 Hitting – M Gubbels, 0-2,K; S Backer, 0-2,2K; C Beal, 0-2,K; A Gubbels, 0-1,K; J Miller, 1-1,3B; C Korth, 0-1; I Salmon, 0-1; J Calder, 0-1,K; G Jensen, 0-1,K.