Sunday was the end of the line for Justin Myer, Harrison Schmitt, Ty Hallberg, Zach Faucher and Tristan Fuhrman.
They may never play together again after the Fort Calhoun Senior Legion baseball team suffered a 6-5, season-ending loss to Waterloo-Valley in Blair. The Class B Area 3 Tournament loss closes the Zig Drywall Pioneers' summer at 9-15 overall.
“Did everything the right way and never complained,” Post 348 coach Brandon Wynn said of his five eldest ballplayers. “Left everything on the field and did a great job as role models for our younger guys.”
The coach has been with the five-man group for the entirety of their prep run together.
“I'm very thankful for their work and effort over the last four, five years,” he said.
A day after completing a five-run comeback to beat Wahoo at Vets Field, Fort Calhoun attempted another elimination game against Waterloo-Valley on Sunday. The Pioneers trailed 6-2 after four innings, but battled back into contention with a run during the sixth inning and two more during the top of the seventh with their backs against the wall.
“The rally at the end was really pretty similar to the one from last night,” Wynn said. “Guys having good at-bats, making the pitcher work. Got a little help with some errors, too.”
After Schmitt plated Hallberg to pull Post 348 within 6-3 during the sixth inning, Avery Quinlan drew a one-out walk to get his team started during the top of the seventh. He stole second base and later scored when Fuhrman hit into an error.
Hallberg then pulled the Pioneers within 6-5 with an RBI single. Myer joined him on the bases next when he, too, hit into an error.
At that point, Genoways stepped up to the plate again after providing the walk-off hit 24 hours earlier against Wahoo. Wynn said asking the young slugger to do the same for a second-straight game was “a tall order.”
Ultimately, it was too tall. Genoways put the ball in play, but the Post 348 Legion baseball season ended with multiple Pioneers calling it a career. The come-from-behind win against Wahoo stands as a highlight for the summer, though.
“I thought the comeback really exemplified the best parts of our entire season,” Wynn said. “Everybody doing their jobs, whether it's stealing bases, bunting or hitting a ground ball to the right side to push a run past. It was entirely a team effort and it took just about everybody on the team doing things right to get through that game.”
