Above: Shortstop Carter Dylla throws to first while a Madelia runner goes by.
With a 6-0 win over the Cleveland boys on Tuesday, Madelia was everything the Clippers were not.
While both teams had seven strikeouts, the Blackhawks were aggressive at the plate. They had seven hits compared to five by Cleveland…and they got the clutch hits when they needed them.
The Clippers got behind in the counts and never got their offense out of first gear against a starting pitcher they had knocked around in an earlier season 17-10 win.
“We couldn’t get anything going with the bats,” said head coach Mike Krenik. “We were being too picky at the plate. The guy threw right around the strike zone most of the time and was getting up on batters. Most of the time we got a fat one right away; it was a first-pitch fastball right down Main Street.”
Three errors didn’t help the Clippers’ cause either. The Blackhawks were errorless.
The Clippers had a chance to get off to a good start. Elijah Sullivan singled and swiped second. Colin Krenik walked. Tanyon Hoheisel singled, and Krenik sent Sullivan home on the play, but the Madelia right fielder made a perfect throw to the plate for the third out.
“I sent someone home when I shouldn’t have,” Krenik said. “It was a close play, but if I would have observed it further down, I would have held him up.”
Madelia led off with a single in the bottom of the first and scored on a double for the winning run. After wild pitch and an RBI grounder, it was 2-0 going into the second.
The Blackhawks capitalize on a pair of Clipper infield errors and a single to score two unearned runs in the third. On another Clipper error and two singles they added two more runs in the fifth.
Lucas Walechka started out on the mound. He gave up five hits while striking out four and walking none. On his watch the Clippers gave up four runs, two of them unearned.
“Lucas was ok but threw a lot of pitches and couldn’t get his breaking ball going,” Krenik said.
Carter Dylla took over to start the fifth. He allowed four hits, no walks and struck out three. Both runs scored in his tenure were unearned.
Sullivan and Kaleb Timlin each had two singles. Hoheisel had one single.
Section play starts on Saturday when the eight-seeded Clippers host ninth-ranked Huron Lake-Okabena-Fulda. Game time is 11:00 am, but that may change, Krenik said.
Third baseman Alex McCabe makes a putout throw to first.