Halley's homer pushes Eagles past FCHS

AHS improves to 3-3 with extra-innings victory

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A Washington County pitcher's duel came down to a sophomore's ninth-inning swing Thursday in Fort Calhoun.
Arlington Eagle Tim Halley blasted a two-run homer to give coach Tyler Stender's team a 4-2 road win on the Class C No. 10 Pioneers' home diamond. The extra innings long ball was the first of the 10th-grader's career.
“It was going to be a rough game if we had Tyler (Ott) pitch like that and didn't pick him up,” Halley said after going through the handshake line. “So, I just went up there. We had to score runs, and I did my job and got a run in.”
With the score even, 2-2, AHS' Dalton Newcomer earned a one-out walk to start his team's ninth frame. Weston Wollberg stepped in to run, stealing second before Darren Olson's groundout pushed him to third base.
“We had a guy on third and we needed a run to get up, and I was just thinking, 'Pick him up,'” Halley said. “(The FCHS pitcher) threw a fastball, middle-in, and I jumped it. Wind helped me get it out.”
Four outs later, the Eagles improved to 3-3 on the season. Kaden Pittman finished out the game on the mound, striking out two, but Ott threw eight innings of two-run ball.
“On the mound, you've just got to stay calm and not get your nerves too high,” Fort Calhoun starting pitcher Declyn Otte said. “I was doing a pretty good job, I'd say, and (Ott) was doing really good.”
While the Pioneer struck out four batters in five innings, AHS' right-hander earned seven outs on strikes.
“Pitched the whole game, basically,” Otte said of his adversary. “Props to him.”
Offensively, FCHS and the Eagles combined for just four runs before Halley's homer in the ninth inning. It took three scoreless innings before AHS tallied the first.
“We were putting the ball in play,” Halley said. “It just wasn't falling.”
Trevor Denker produced the 1-0 Eagles lead with contact to left field, though. The Calhoun outfielder couldn't come up with the ball and Wollberg scored.
Then, during the top of the fifth inning, Pittman ran out a bouncing ball in the infield to push across Arlington's second run.
Now trailing 2-0, the Pioneers finally responded with a pair of runs during the sixth frame. Freshman Blake Welchert made contact and beat the AHS throw to first base before scoring when his brother, senior Austin Welchert, hit into an Eagle error.
FCHS' Kenny Wellwood later joined the elder Welchert on the bases with a full-count walk. He then stole second base, allowing Austin to score the game-tying run on a play at the plate.
The teams remained tied at 2 until the ninth inning, but the Pioneers had a chance to win the regular season Nebraska Capitol Conference game in the bottom of the seventh. Sam Halford hit an Arlington pitch to deep centerfield, and both Chase Premer and Carter Christensen walked to load the bases with none out.
Ott forced back-to-back-to-back outs, however, and the Washington County teams went to extra innings.
“It was a little bit of a missed opportunity because we had the bases loaded and we had a chance,” Otte said. “But there's a lot of parts throughout the whole game where we could have got more runs.”
Halley produced the ones that made the difference, though. His ninth-inning crack sent the baseball flying over the left field fence.
“Felt good,” he said. “Against a rival, felt good.”

Pioneers fall to Concordia
Fort Calhoun was scheduled to play home games again Friday and Saturday, but ended up only playing Saturday after Friday's game was postponed due to low temperatures.
“We've just got to get better,” Otte said. “Get rid of the little errors that we have.”
Unfortunately for the Pioneers, Omaha Concordia earned the 7-0 road win. The Mustangs improved to 2-5, while the Pioneers dropped to 2-4.
Concordia scored a run during the first and fourth innings before breaking the game open with a three-run sixth. The Mustangs then added two runs in the seventh for their final margin of victory.
Pioneers Sam Genoways, Eli Tinkham and Wellwood pitched in defeat. Their team next plays 4:30 p.m. today at Malcolm after Monday's scheduled game at Omaha Roncalli.

PREP BASEBALL LINE SCORES
Saturday
Omaha Concordia 7, Fort Calhoun 0
OC (2-5) 1 0 0 1 0 3 2 — 7
FCHS (2-4) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
Thursday
Arlington 4, No. 10 Fort Calhoun 2, 9 inn.
AHS (3-3) 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 — 4
FCHS (2-3) 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 — 2

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