2A/3A day one baseball regional recap
Trojan junior Wes Jahay attempts a bunt against the Caney Valley Bullpups in first round action of the 3A Regionals held in Baxter, May 13.
By: Aaron Pyle
Win or go home, teams from the surrounding SEK area put it all on the line in day one of regional action for a spot in the semifinals.
For the [7] Trojan boys’ team, they faced-off against [2] Caney Valley Bullpups as the Trojans looked to start off regionals with a bang.
Both teams remaining scoreless through the first inning off a great defensive play from both sides of the ball. In the second, the Trojans got the bats going as the Bullpups pitching struggled to stop Girard’s persistent hitting. A 5-0 offensive effort pushed Girard ahead early off multiple walks and errors from Caney Valley. Caney continued to struggle to find a hit offensively due to an excellent performance on the mound from sophomore Caden Lallemand.
Two doubles to right field in the third inning from Lallemand and senior Ty Norris pushed the lead even further to 6-0.
Caney, already on their third pitcher by the fourth inning, had no answer for the solid, consistent play of the Trojans. Pitcher Lallemand pitched a complete game for the Trojans, allowing only four hits and throwing five strikeouts against the Bullpups.
“Caden Lallemand was outstanding, controlled his pitch count, so he was able to throw a complete game which is big going into tomorrow,” said Girard’s coach Steve Bever. “Our hitters did a good job of swinging at good pitches, did a good job of situational hitting and got some timely hits to drive in runs.”
With the Trojans (8-10) dominant, all-around performance, they advance to the semifinals where they will play [3] Baxter Springs Lions (15-5) May 14 at 3:30 in Baxter.
Over in Arma-NE, the [7] St. Paul Indians (0-14) met with the [2] Northeast Vikings (12-2) in a first-round matchup of the 2A Regionals. St. Paul proved to be no match for the high-powered Vikings team as Northeast went on to win 13-2, ending the Indians season winless (0-15).
The Vikings (13-2) move on to the semifinals where they will play the [3] Humboldt Cubs (18-3) May 14 in Cherokee-SE at 3:30.
For the Southeast Lancers in 2A action, they received a round-bye automatically advancing to May 14 semifinal action against St. Mary’s-Colgan. The game will be played in Cherokee-SE at 2:00.
Winners of the semifinal matchups will move onto the final which will be played following the Southeast/Colgan semifinal with a scheduled time of 5:00.