Hartington is Area 2 runner-up for second straight year

By Joel Janecek

WISNER — Hits were at a premium on Tuesday, July 20 as Pender’s Eric Browning threw a no-hitter, leading them to a 10-0 victory over Hartington in the Class C area 2 championship.

Despite the loss, Hartington was able to clinch a spot in the Class C state legion tournament, since Pender is the host team and they have an automatic bid.

In his stellar pitching performance, Browning was able to strike out twelve batters while allowing only two walks.

“We knew he was one of their quality pitchers,” Hartington head coach Tim Loberg said. “Unfortunately our guys weren’t able to make the adjustments they needed to earn hits.”

Knowing they had a spot in the state tournament already, Hartington went with a different lineup in order to get each of their dedicated players more time on the field.

“We wanted to get all our guys some quality experience,” Loberg said. “It was a deserving spot for the kids that hung with us all year.”

Pender only scored runs in the second and fourth innings, but they did so in bunches, putting up three in the second and seven in the fourth.

Offensively for Pender, Josh Wegner had a double, single and two RBIs, Browning and Levi Beutler each had two singles and an RBI, Brody Vandeberg, Austin Weborg, Anthony Bonneau and Trey Bonneau each had a single and an RBI. Zack Johnson also had a single.

For Hartington, Kellyn Dump drew a walk and reached on an error, Zach Wuebben drew a walk, while Steve Herbolsheimer, Cody Lammers and Danny Lecker each reached on an error.

Trent Jansen claimed the loss for Hartington as he went three complete innings, allowing seven runs on seven hits, two hits batters, a walk and a wild pitch. He also recorded three strikeouts.

Eric Kruse pitched the fourth inning, allowing three runs on three hits while walking one, striking out one and throwing one wild pitch.

Devon Lammers closed out the game surrendering one hit and striking out one.

With the loss, Hartington’s record moved to 20-5 on the year and is likely one of the best in the state.

The loss proves to be bittersweet for Hartington though as they advanced to the state tournament.

“We’re really excited to be there,” Loberg said. “We have good pitching and if we hit the ball well I think we’ll be able to hold on and win some games.”

Hartington’s first opponent is one they know fairly well as they draw Crofton in the first round. Along with a few familiar faces, Hartington will face competition that they haven’t seen all year as teams from all over the state will be competing in the tournament.

“It will be nice to play some teams we haven’t seen before,” Loberg said. “We’re just going to go down there and make the best of it.”

This entry was posted on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 11:38 am and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.