After a run-rule loss to start the Class B Area 3 Tournament in Blair, the Fort Calhoun Junior Legion baseball team broke the postgame huddle with talk of “tomorrow.”
The Zig Drywall Pioneers wanted to turn the page on an 8-0 loss to West Point, and looked forward to the Saturday elimination game that could extend or end their summer season at Vets Field.
“Doesn't really matter who we play, we've just got to come ready,” coach Joe Yakopec said.
Throwing strikes and attacking first-pitch fastballs would be key to a solid outing against the Kelly Ryan Pride of Omaha Roncalli, he explained.
“We just need to jump on their pitcher from the get-go,” Yakopec said.
Post 348 scored their lone run of the tournament during the first inning Saturday, but it lost again by run-rule, 11-1. The defeat ended a difficult season from a win-loss standpoint.
In hopes of extending the summer campaign, Calhoun's Presley Olberding reached base with a one-out walk during the opening frame. He'd later race to second base, took third on a passed ball and scored when another Roncalli pitch to Will Duros missed its mark and got by the catcher.
The victors would even the score at 1-1 during the bottom half of the inning, though, and took the lead with three runs in the second. From there, Kelly Ryan scored five runs against Zig Drywall in the third frame and two more in the fourth before the game ended in five.
Before the loss, Coach Yakopec noted what the Fort Calhoun Juniors' season was all about.
“I've just wanted to progress game-by-game and, then, hopefully end this season on a positive note heading into most of these guys' freshman and sophomore years,” he said.
One positive of the players' time together has been their growth.
“They've grown on the field, too, but, mostly, these guys have been together all summer and they've grown as teammates toward each other,” Yakopec explained
West Point tops Post 348
Though Fort Calhoun lost its Area opener by eight runs Friday, Coach Yakopec was quick to answer a question concerning what the Pioneers did well.
“For the most part, our pitching was pretty good,” he said after the postseason game with the West Point Bombers. “We just didn't make some routine plays on the field where it kind of cost us some runs.”
Landon Bernasek started on the mound for Zig Drywall, throwing four innings before Gannon Otte stepped on during the fifth and final frame.
“(Landon) threw a lot of strikes and, when he faced a little bit of adversity, he came right back and fired it right in there,” Yakopec said.
When Bernasek handed off the ball, the Pioneers were still within 3-0, but with two West Point runners on base. The game spiraled from there.
At the plate, Coach Yakopec said his team watched too many fastballs down the middle of the strike zone. Fort Calhoun finished with just two hits across five innings with Olberding producing a first-inning single. The batter stole a base, too, but wasn't able to get back to home plate.
Bernasek, meanwhile, attempted to help his cause on the mound with a third-inning single. Merritt Olberding reached base on a West Point error earlier on during the postseason matchup, too.
Post 348's efforts, however, were not enough to get past the Area 3 Tournament's second seed.
POST 348 JUNIOR LINE SCORES
Saturday
Kelly Ryan (Roncalli) 11, Fort Calhoun 1, 5 inn.
FC 1 0 0 0 0 — 1
KR 1 3 5 2 X — 11
Friday
West Point 8, Fort Calhoun 0, 5 inn.
FC 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
WP 0 1 2 0 5 — 8
