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WAKEFIELD/WAYNE — The Hartington Pony League tournament baseball team rolled to a title in the Mid-Summer Classic over this past weekend with wins over the Wayne tournament team 11-5 on June 23; the UBA Gladiators 6-5 on June 24; the Lincoln Cyclones 11-10 on June 25; and Ponca 9-1 on June 25.
Against Ponca, Micah Cattau opened the scoring in the first inning when he hit a ground ball to the shortstop to chase home Brady Hochstein after he had singled to open the frame.
After Hochstein scored, Hartington drew a pair of walks before a Tate Fischer single drove home Hunter Bensen and Easton Hochstein after they had both stolen a base to put runners on second and third.
Fischer was thrown out at third to end the inning, but the Hartington Ponies had enough runs already for Easton Hochstein.
Easton Hochstein grabbed the win on the mound, going two innings and allowing a single hit.
Hartington added three runs in the second when Cooper Hochstein, Brady Hochstein and Will Feilmeier all scored in the frame for a 6-0 advantage.
A single run in the third and two in the fifth made it 9-1 after Ponca scored in the third and the game was halted due to a time limit in the fifth inning.
Hartington inched past the Lincoln Cyclones to remain unbeaten in the tournament with the 11-10 victory.
Lincoln scored five runs in the fifth inning to get the lead in the game after Hartington led 4-1, 7-4 and 8-4 at the end of the first four frames.
The Hartington Ponies responded in the bottom of the inning with three big runs by Brady Hochstein, Cooper Hochstein and Feilmeier.
In the top of the sixth, Easton Hochstein, who earned the win in relief of Cattau, struck out the first two Cyclone batters.
He then yielded a single and walked a batter, putting the winning run on base.
Lincoln scored a run on an error to get to the 11-10 final as Hochstein coaxed a ground ball back to himself to end the game with the tying run standing on third base.
The Hartington Ponies won another tight game against the UBA Gladiators Saturday.
Hartington withstood a three-run fourth to cling to a 6-5 lead heading into the final inning.
Cattau stranded the tying run on first with two outs, striking out two in the final inning and getting a fly ball to left field.
In the opening game against the Wayne tournament team, Hartington had a more comfortable win by the 11-5 score.
In fact, Hartington was up 6-0 heading into the bottom of the second frame.
Wayne plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the second and added three in the bottom of the third to make it 7-5, but the Hartington Ponies used four runs in the top of the fourth to seal the win.
Bensen registered three hits in the contest, including a double; Cattau had a couple, including a double, and Gavin Klug went 2-for-2 at the plate and had two RBIs.
Feilmeier scored three times in the contest.
The Hartington Ponies will compete in the Quad County Tournament July 13-17 with the All-Star game set for Plainview July 23.
The Hartington Royals won a pair of games last week, defeating Neligh 6-5 at home on June 22 and blasting Creighton 13-3 on the road June 26.
The Royals scored eight runs in the third to blow open a 1-1 ball game against Creighton and added four runs in the fifth to set the mercy rule in motion, ending the game after Creighton batted in the fifth.
Bensen, Cash Lenzen, Marek Heimes, Landon Rutar, Dawson Dresden and Kody Bartling all drove in runs in the eight-run frame.
Justin Heimes earned the win on the mound, going the distance, and also helped his cause at the plate with a 2-for-2 performance with two RBIs and he scored three runs.
Bartling knocked in three runs; Lane Heimes and Justin Heimes each had a double.
The Royals trailed the entire game against Neligh until four runs in the fifth made it 4-3.
Neligh tied it up in sixth and then took a one-run lead with a run in the seventh before Hartington used a walk-off stolen base in the bottom of the seventh to get the one-run win.
The Royals evened the score earlier in their half of the seventh when Bartling scored on an error after being placed on second for the extra-inning procedure.
Dresden would score the winning run after singling on a bunt attempt and advancing to second on an error by the Neligh first baseman.
Brady Hochstein walked and then stole second, and Dresden scored on the play.
Dresden also picked up the win on the mound.
The Royals are set to return to action at home against O’Neill June 29 before taking on the Hartington Navy team July 6.
The Hartington Navy team lost its lone game of the week 11-4 to Plainview.
Plainview went up 4-1 in the second inning before the Navy battled back with runs in the third, fourth and fifth to make it a one-run game.
Plainview scored four runs in the fifth and added three in the sixth to close out the game.
Gavin Klug scored twice in the game; Grady Haberer and Cattau each scored once.
Feilmeier hit a double and Cattau tripled. Fischer took the loss on the hill.
The Hartington Navy team will play Creighton June 29 in Hartington before the match-up with the Royals on July 6.
The Royals started this week 9-3 while the Navy began the week 10-1.
