Young Vikings nearly make WIC BB Tourney final
NEOLA (June 27) -- A long line of AHSTW baseball teams with more experience and more wins have fallen short of where this year’s young Viking squad nearly landed on Wednesday evening.
One night after outscoring second-seeded Underwood 19-13 in the first round of the Western Iowa Conference Tournament, the seventh-seeded Vikings were just a break or two shy of winning again vs. sixth-seeded Logan-Magnolia in the semifinal round at Tri-Center.
In a game that featured three lead changes by the fourth inning, Lo-Ma was able to push across the winning run in the bottom of the seventh on a well-placed sacrifice bunt and an error to edge the Vikings 6-5 and advance to Friday night’s WIC championship game vs. top-seeded Tri-Center.
AHSTW, now 7-10 overall, will finish its week by facing fourth-seeded Treynor in the consolation final at 5:30 p.m. Friday back at T-C.
“We’ve been in this position maybe five years in a row now and this is definitely the closest that it feels like it’s been [to making the title game],” said AHSTW coach Jason Holst, who started six sophomores, a freshman and two eighth-graders here Wednesday. “I thought we showed a lot of heart."
Sam Porter pitched the first five and two-thirds innings for AHSTW, allowing nine hits and five runs. He walked only one batter, hit one and struck out five. Brody Langer and Clayton Akers both went 3-for-4 at the plate.
AHSTW 19, Underwood 13
UNDERWOOD (June 26) -- Down 8-1 early on, the Vikings started scoring runs in the fourth inning and didn’t stop Tuesday night, knocking off the second-seeded Eagles in a WIC quarterfinal.
AHSTW scored seven runs in the fourth to tie the game, then plated six in the fifth to go up 14-12 and added five more in the sixth.
“That was exciting,” Holst said. “We got down early and we showed maturity probably beyond our years."
Brody Langer went 3-for-5 with two doubles, four RBI and two runs scored to lead the Vikings. Lane Nelson was 2-for-4 with three runs and two RBI, Joel Sampson doubled and drove in three and Clayton Akers scored four runs.