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CROFTON - The Hartington Post 4 American Legion Seniors were cruising along for what appeared to be a season-opening win here on May 22.
Dylan Taylor took the mound and pitched four innings of one-hit baseball while striking out five.
Meanwhile, the Hartington offense had produced six runs to take a 6-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning of the scheduled seven-inning Ralph Bishop League contest.
But in the bottom of the sixth frame,the wheels fell off and Post 4 found itself on the wrong end of an 8-6 game.
“We only have four true Seniors,” Hartington skipper, Don Whitmire said. “So we have a lot of Juniors playing and I told the Seniors we do have on the team they’re going to have to pitch.”
But pitching wasn’t the entire problem in the fateful sixth. Post 4 gave up the eight runs on three hits, four walks, a hit batsman and three errors.
“It was the first game of the year and some of these guys have never been on the field for the Seniors,” said Whitmire. “Things just kind of snowballed on us there in the inning, it wasn’t just pitching. It should be a good learning experience for us.”
Breiton Whitmire opened the game with a double for Hartington then advanced to third on a passed ball.
After an out, Dan Puppe stepped to the plate and slapped a ground ball past the third baseman scoring Whitmire then he advanced to second on an error by the third baseman.
Koby Detlefsen lifted a fly ball to center field which found the grass for a double and chased Puppe home.
Detlefsen advance to third on a wild pitch then scored on another wild pitch to make it 3-0.
Hartington would add a run in the top of the third when Taylor drew a walk and stole second. After a strikeout, Taylor stole third and Detlefsen got his second hit of the night on a hard ground ball into right field,scoring Taylor.
Post 4 took the 4-0 lead into its half of the fifth where Hartington added two runs to the advantage.
Taylor would score after drawing a walk to lead off the top of the inning on a fly ball which was misplayed, then Hunter Bensen rifled a line drive into right field scoring Wes Heine after Heine was the recipient of the Crofton error earlier in the frame.
The score remained 6-0 until Crofton’s final at bat.
The Hartington Seniors were set to host Wayne May 29 in Ralph Bishop League action then head to Yankton for a tournament May 31 and June 1.
The team will travel to South Sioux City on June 3 to resume loop play.
Crofton defeats Hartington 8-6. HAR 301 020 0 - 6 5 3 CRO 000 008 X - 8 3 4 WP: Braxton Foxhoven LP: Wess Heine.
