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HARTINGTON — The Hartington American Legion Post 4 Senior baseball team earned three wins in three days to advance to Tuesday night’s Class C Area 1 tournament title game at Felber Park.
Hartington entered the tourney as the No. 1 seed and proved it deserved the high seeding.
Post 4 was slated to take on Wisner-Pilger-Howells-Dodge Tuesday for the tournament title and a trip to the State Tournament.
Hartington edged WPHD 4-3 in the tourney opener on Friday. The visitors from the south would need to beat Hartington twice in order to claim the trip to this weekend’s Class C State Tournament in Rushville.
On the way to the finals, the Post 4 Seniors defeated WPHD 4-3 in the opening contest, beat Stanton in the second round 9-0 and turned away Crofton 11-3 to land in the final game.
After dropping a game to Crofton to open the Ralph Bishop League Tournament, Hartington avenged the loss with the 11-3 win on the power of Jaxson Bernecker.
Bernecker got the win on the mound, scattering six hits in fi ve innings of work and allowing just two runs and striking out five.
It was Bernecker’s offense that probably did the most damage as he was a double short of hitting for the cycle of a single, double, triple and home run, driving in two and scoring four runs himself.
Crofton scored first in the game, but Hartington answered with a run in the bottom of the first to even the score at 1-1.
Crofton scored twice in the third, but Post 4 kept pace with two runs in the bottom of the frame to make it 3-3.
Hartington took the lead for good in the fourth with a run, then Bernecker blasted a two-run homer in the fifth to extend the lead to 6-3.
Post 4 scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth to end the game by the eight-run rule and grab a spot in the finals.
Koby Detlefsen had a solid game at the plate, going 3-for-4, including a double and driving in three runs. Tyan Baller hit a pair of doubles and scored twice in his four at-bats.
Detlefsen took the mound against Stanton, and Hartington scored all of the runs he would need in the first inning on the way to the win in the game shortened to just five innings again, by the eight-run rule.
Dylan Taylor and Dan Puppe each doubled in the game with each driving in a couple of runners.
Weston Heine drove in one run and scored twice. Detlefsen went four innings and allowed just three hits while striking out nine Stanton batters.
Hartington inched past WPHD in the opener by the 4-3 final. WPHD scored a run in the top of the seventh to get within one run before Bernecker came on in relief of winning pitcher Lukas Wortmann to strike out the final two batters and preserve the win.
WPHD scored first in the first inning before Post 4 broke the tie in the fourth with a couple of runs.
Baller opened the Hartington half of the fourth with a single and then a Heine double, one of his two in the game, left runners on second and third.
Baller scored on a dropped third strike to Jaelen Lammers, which left Heine on third and Lammers at first.
Carson Arens hit a ground ball to second base and was thrown out, but Heine crossed the plate on the play to make the score 2-1.
Two more runs in the fifth gave Hartington the cushion to survive the game.
Detlefsen reached on an error to open the bottom of the fi fth and then Baller worked a walk.
Detlefsen advanced to third on a passed ball and then Baller stole second before another passed ball scored Detlefsen and moved Baller to third.
Dan Puppe stepped to the plate and launched a fly ball to right field, which was caught, but it was deep enough to score Baller.
A walk and a hit batter opened the WPHD seventh before a fly-out to second base.
Another walk followed to load the bases and a third walk scored a run before Bernecker got the final strikeout.
C 102 000 X 3 8 2 H (15-9) 102 125 X 11 15 0 WP: Jaxson Bernecker LP: Colin Wieseler. 2B: Tyan Baller (2), Dan Puppe, Koby Detlefsen (H); Colin Wieseler (C). 3B: Jaxson Bernecker (H). HR: Bernecker (H). S 000 00X X - 0 3 0 H 120 6XX X 9 4 0 WP: Koby Detlefsen LP: Butterfield. 2B: Dylan Taylor, Dan Puppe (H). W 100 010 1 - 3 5 4 H 000 220 X 4 7 0 WP: Lukas Wortmann LP: Nelson S: Jaxson Bernecker. 2B: Weston Heine (2), Jaxson Bernecker (H).
