Post 4 Juniors advance to North Division finals

HARTINGTON — The Hartington Post 4 American Legion Juniors baseball team posted a couple of wins last week and now move on to the North Division finals of the Ralph Bishop League Tournament against Wayne June 29 in Hartington, with the first pitch set for 7 p.m.

The Post 4 Juniors got past Crofton 8-6 on June 24 and defeated Ponca 7-0 on June 26 to grab a spot in the division final.

Brady Hochstein did the bulk of the work on the mound, allowing just two hits and whiffing 10 Ponca batters in his six innings of work. Dylan Taylor came on in relief and secured the shutout, working the final inning and allowing a single hit.

Meanwhile, the Post 4 bats came to life in the fourth frame as they broke open a scoreless tie with three runs and then added four in the sixth to secure the win.

Koby Detlefsen opened the Hartington part of the fourth inning with a walk followed by a Jaymison Cattau single to left field. Sam Wiebelhaus drew a walk to load the bases with no one out.

Ponca got two outs on a strikeout and a ground ball by Maverick Heine, but Heine’s grounder sent Detlefsen home with the game’s first run.

Keyton Arens smacked a single up the middle, scoring Cattau and Wiebelhaus and giving Hartington a 3-0 lead.

Post 4 put the game on ice in the fourth inning with four more runs and then Hochstein and Taylor finished up the game on the hill.

Hochstein, Wiebelhaus, Cattau and Breiton Whitmire all scored in the frame.

Against Crofton, the Post 4 Juniors used a fourrun fourth frame to go in front 8-4 and then held on for the 8-6 win.

Crofton scored first in the contest, but Hartington answered in the home half of the first inning to tie the game 1-1.

Post 4 grabbed the lead in the second frame with a run, but Crofton would respond in the top of the third with a couple of runs to retake the lead 3-2.

Two Hartington Juniors runs in the third inning put them in the lead for good and the four-run fourth sealed the win.

Whitmire earned the win on the mound, allowing just two hits and two runs in two innings of relief of Taylor who left after three frames.

Detlefsen had two doubles; Keyton Arens and Taylor each had one two-bagger.

The Ralph Bishop League Championships are set for July 1 in Wakefield with the two division winners from Thursday night’s games set to square off for the tournament title.

The two losing teams Thursday night will play in the consolation finals prior to the finals in Wakefield.

The Hartington Post 4 Juniors are scheduled to play in the Area 1 Junior Tournament in Crofton, July 7-12.

Creighton-Bloomfield-Plainview, Orchard (Tri-County) and Randolph are also in Area 1.

P 000 000 0 - 0 3 1 H (14-2) 000 340 X 7 5 2 WP: Brady Hochstein. C 102 120 0 - 6 6 1 H 112 400 X - 8 13 3 WP: Breiton Whitmire. 2B: Koby Detlefsen (2); Keyton Arens, Dylan Taylor (H).