Cornerstone Junior Blue drops district game to Wahoo

The eighth-seeded Wahoo Pharmacy Blue continued defying the odds by upsetting the second-seeded Cornerstone Junior Blue Saturday night for a trip to Monday’s district championship.
Wahoo started the scoring in the bottom of the first inning as York’s starter couldn’t find the strike zone. York allowed three one-out walks followed by a two-out single to center field in the inning. Fortunately for the Blue, Brady Mills limited Wahoo’s scoring to only one run by firing a rocket home from center on the two-out single to gun down the Wahoo baserunner for the third out.
To begin the second, Wahoo received two more free passes from York’s starter. Bret Gardner was called on to come in and bail York out and he did just that. Gardner managed to get out of the second with just one of the Wahoo runners coming across the plate and York still within striking distance, down 2-0.
Over the next four innings, Gardner faced 13 batters and retired 12. The one Wahoo baserunner reached on an error. With the five innings of work, Gardner had pitched 11 innings in the district tournament without surrendering an earned run.
“Bret faced 18 hitters and retired 15 of them and one of the three reached on an error,” head coach Matt Kern said. “It was an excellent performance for Bret coming on in relief and keeping us in the game.”
Unfortunately for the Blue, solid defense and a masterful pitching performance weren’t enough to overcome a feeble showing at the plate. A Gardner single in the first and a Jake Spanjers double in the seventh were the only hits York could manage. Ty Branz added two walks and the four baserunners were the only ones the Blue had all night.
“The bottom line is if you can’t hit, you can’t win,” Kern said. “We’ve been bailed out a few times when we’ve only had two hits this year, but the reality is you can’t rely on that.”
York batters struck out 14 times in the game. The Blue didn’t receive much help from the top of its order with the one and two hitters failing to put the ball in play and combining to go 0-6 with six strikeouts.
With the loss the Blue now had to win last night against the winner of Seward and David City for a spot in Monday night’s championship. If they reach the championship, they will have to defeat Wahoo twice for a trip to state.