Canon Rath - North Platte Post
McCook, Nebr - #2 Ogallala moves on to the B6 American Legion Seniors Tournament Championship Game after defeating #5 Holdrege 12-4 Monday night in the elimination game. Ogallala will have a rematch with #6 Broken Bow who they lost to 9-4 Sunday afternoon. Ogallala will have to win twice to advance to the state tournament. They will take on Broken Bow tomorrow at 4:30 MST. Pregame coverage will begin at 4:20 MST and you can listen along on Flatrock 100.7 or online at https://flatrock1007.com/.
Ogallala's rematch with Holdrege started off very similar to the first time these two teams played in the first round of districts on Friday. Scoreless two innings for both teams before Holdrege would strike first in the bottom of the third. Holdrege's Matt Janssen would reach on base from a hit by pitch. Beau Jensen also reached base before Keagan Steinke would hit a 2 RBI double to give Holdrege an early l2-0.
Top of the fourth, Ogallala's Ian Shaw would hit a double in the inning. Max Mueller would also hit a double to score Shaw. Next batter, Colton Knispel single would score Mueller to tie the game at 2. Both teams would score a run in the fourth which resulted the score 3-3 after four completed innings.
This post season run, Ogallala has had an explosive inning minus the Broken Bow game and this time it was the top half of the fifth inning. The team would rack in 7 runs to extend there lead 9-2. Caden Rezac's two triples in the fifth was the highlight of the inning. Shaw would also hit a triple in the fifth inning as well.
Things got quiet tell the top half of the 7th when Rezac would send a three run homerun down the right field line to give us the final score of 12-4. Hitting and pitching was a key component for Ogallala in tonight's elimination game.
Getting the start for Ogallala tonight was Aydan Halligan. Halligan would throw 5 innings while striking out three batters. Cole Stokey would toss the 6th inning striking out one while Josh Christensen would finish the 7th inning striking out two batters. As a whole the staff struck out 6 batters and allowed 7 hits.
Holdrege would start Keagan Stienke who would go 4 2/3 striking out 4. Trey Weaver would come in relief but got pulled after 4 batters. Cole Guthrie would finish the game for Holdrege striking out three batters.
Ogallala's hot bats would finish the game with 14 hits. Rezac was 4 for 5 with a single, two triples, and a three run homerun. He was a double shy from the cycle. Shaw went 3 for 4 with a single and two doubles. Mueller was 2 for 5 with a single and a double.
Ogallala and Broken Bow are the last two remaining teams in the B6 American Legion Seniors Tournament. Broken Bow only has to win one while Ogallala will need to win twice. The winner will advance to the 2023 Class B State Championship tournament in Pierce, Nebraska. The tournament is July 29th - August 2nd.
(Post game interview with Ogallala Head Coach Ty Benson)
Click the podcast below for a replay of Ogallala's elimination round victory, as heard on Flatrock 100.7 FM.