The Fort Calhoun Senior Legion baseball team started a win streak during its first three games of the Springfield Invitational.
Zig Drywall bested Auburn, Plattsmouth and Omaha Roncalli on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and was set to face Beatrice on Sunday. The final result of the weekend will be covered in Friday's Washington County Enterprise edition.
The Springfield-hosted started Thursday with Zig Drywall earning a 10-9, come-from-behind victory against Auburn. Though it trailed 6-0 and 7-1 early on, Calhoun battled back for a walk-off win.
Kenny Wellwood was on second base when Nathan Kramer stepped into the batter's box during the bottom half of the final inning.
“I originally told (coach) Jerry (Wellwood) I was going to bunt no matter what,” Kramer said after the game. The batter wanted to do his job and get the coach's son to third base so a teammate could then get him home.
“And then they threw it away,” Kramer said.
Wellwood made it to third base on an off-target pickoff attempt at second, setting up the batter to be the hero. He took the opportunity.
“I saw a ball that looked fairly close to the (strike) zone, so I took a hack at it,” Kramer said. “It wasn't pretty, but it worked.”
Wellwood scored and Post 348 opened a 1-0 start to the Springfield Invitational. The team had appeared well on its way to an 0-1 start after surrendering six first-inning runs.
From there, though, Coach Wellwood's team did what it could even with a rough showing from the pitching mound. Calhoun gave up three runs by bases-loaded walks, but scored enough on its own to give it a chance in in the end.
“Our whole type of play is, 'Chip away. Chip away,'” Kramer said. “We never really have huge innings.”
Charlie Boumstein plated Zig Drywall's first run during the second inning before Chase Premer hit a bloop RBI single. Still down 6-2, Kenny Wellwood scored a third runner by sacrifice.
Post 348 later pulled within 7-6 when both Jordan Back and Logan Schwab scored on errors, and Premer notched his second RBI.
Auburn responded to those runs with two of its own in the top of the fifth inning, but Calhoun tied the tourney game at 9-all with three more during the bottom half. JT Mlnarik, who closed the game out on the mound, plated the first run by sac fly before RBIs by both Back and Boumstein.
Finally, with the game on the line, Kramer broke that tie with a walk-off winner.
Zig Drywall continued its winning ways Friday, besting Plattsmouth 3-1 in Springfield. Sam Genoways threw a no-hitter, striking out eight batters along the way. It took him just 79 pitches.
Fort Calhoun tied the score at 1-1 during the third inning before adding two more runs for the win in the fifth.
Coach Wellwood's squad added a shutout victory to its streak Saturday, knocking off Roncalli 4-0. Pitchers Colin Bolay, Mlnarik and Thad Kowal combined for the shutout in a game Post 348 led from the top of the third inning on.
After Sunday's finale in Springfield, Zig Drywall is set to begin Class B Area 3 Tournament play today in Blair. Official matchups and start times were unavailable as of press time.
ZIG DRYWALL SENIOR LINE SCORES
Saturday
Fort Calhoun 4, Omaha Roncalli 0
FC (21-14) 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 — 4
RON 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
Friday
Fort Calhoun 3, Plattsmouth 1
PLATTS 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 — 1
FC (20-14) 0 0 1 0 2 0 X — 3
Thursday
Fort Calhoun 10, Auburn 9, 6 inn.
AUBURN 6 0 1 0 2 0 — 9
FC (19-14) 0 3 0 3 3 1 — 10
