BE/W runner Nick Barke drags his hand over the plate while avoiding the tag of the Wells catcher. BE/W defeated Wells by identical 11-1 scores during Sub-District play in Blue Earth July 8-11. Both teams advanced to play at the Sub-State Tournament which is being held in Wabasso July 15-17 and 22-24.

Sub-State Tournament

BE/W 9, Pipestone 4

BE/W defeated Pipestone 9-4 on Thursday, July 15 in the opening round of the American Legion Southwest Sub-State Tournament.

Logan O’Hara hit his fourth home run in as many games, Keegan O’Brien hit a two-run double and Anthony Carr added a home run to lead the team’s offensive attack.

O’Hara started the game on the mound and was relieved by Taylor Davids with two outs in the sixth inning.

Be sure to check next week’s edition of the Faribault County Register for further updates on the team’s progress.

Sub-District Tournament

The Blue Earth/Winnebago Post 89 and 82 American Legion baseball team had the perfect recipe for winning the District 2, Sub-District “C” baseball tournament, which was played in Blue Earth on July 8-11.

BE/W used solid starting pitching, added a stellar defense and sprinkled in an explosive offense to win three games and the tournament crown, defeating Wells 11-1 in six innings in the title game.

“You go into a tournament where you know pitching depth is paramount, and you get three outstanding, complete-game performances from your top three pitchers, Logan O’Hara, Jimmy Allis and Anthony Carr,” BE/W head coach Paul Nienaber said. “How do you top that?”

O’Hara’s performance at the plate might be the answer to that question.

O’Hara was 10-for-11 (a .909 average) in the three games BE/W played and he had a home run in each contest. He also had five doubles on his way to driving in 11 runs during the weekend.

“O’Hara was obviously hot,” Nienaber noted. “But as a player from another team observed after the final game, everybody in our lineup, batters one-nine, can hit the ball. There are no easy outs.”

While the pitching and hitting success might be more visible in the statistics, Nienaber could not say enough about the way his defense played.

“Our defense was spectacular. We made the routine plays and some not-so-routine plays,” Nienaber commented. “We made some defensive plays early in the games to set the tone and take any momentum away from the other team.

BE/W and Wells both advanced to the Minnesota Southwest Sub-State Tournament which began Thursday, July 15, in Wabasso.

BE/W 11, Wells 1

Anthony Carr was on the mound for BE/W against Wells for what would be the final game of the double elimination tournament. Post 89/82 entered the Sunday, July 11, game undefeated while Wells had one loss, which came against Blue Earth the previous day.

Carr allowed one unearned run while giving up six hits and one walk in six innings of work. He struck out four Wells batters.

Logan O’Hara gave BE/W a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when he hit a solo home run.

Luke Mertens led off the second inning with a double and scored on a single by Jimmy Allis which Wells misplayed allowing Allis to reach second base. Allis advanced to third base on a wild pitch and scored on an opposite-field single by Nick Barke.

Adam Schavey’s bunt single and another Wells error enabled Barke to advance to third base. Barke scored on Kean Hicks’ ground out to the second baseman to give BE/W a 4-0 lead after two innings.

BE/W had increased their lead to 6-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.

Mertens led off the sixth inning with a walk, Allis connected for another single and Luke Schonborn was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Barke singled to left to plate Mertens and Allis. A single by Adam Schavey brought home Schonborn to make the score 9-1. O’Hara’s single to center brought home Barke and Schavey to end the game with BE/W winning 11-1.

BE/W 11, Wells 1

Jimmy Allis allowed one unearned run in six innings of work while allowing only one hit and striking out eight Wells batters in BE/W’s 11-1 win on Saturday, July 10.

Wells had defeated Maple River to reach the best 2-out-of-3 championship round.

BE/W scored three runs in the first inning, one in the fourth, two in the fifth and five in the sixth inning to gain the victory.

BE/W’s five-run outburst in the sixth inning was ignited by Allis, who stroked a leadoff double to begin the inning. Luke Schonborn and Adam Schavey added singles with Schavey driving in a run before being thrown out trying to steal second base.

Back-to-back doubles by Kean Hicks and Keegan O’Brien gave BE/W a 9-1 lead. With O’Brien on second, O’Hara stroked the ball over the left field fence for two more runs to end the game with a 10-run, 11-1 triumph.

BE/W 6, W/S 0

BE/W opened tournament play with a 6-0 win against Welcome/Sherburn on Friday, July 9. BE/W had received a first round bye as the top-seeded team in the five-team tournament.

W/S had advanced to the second round with a win over Madelia on Thursday night.

Logan O’Hara pitched all seven innings and helped himself out by hitting a two-run homer in the fifth inning over the tall green fence in center field.

W/BE wasted no time in taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning via Kean Hick’s line-drive home run to left-center field.

The home team added two more runs in the bottom of the third inning.

Keegan O’Brien hit a one-out single and stole second base. He scored on a single by O’Hara. Ryan Madetzke singled and Luke Mertens reached first on an error to load the bases.

Jimmy Allis drove in O’Hara with a ground out to the shortstop to put BE/W on top 3-0.

O’Hara’s fifth inning homer made it 5-0 and W/BE added one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning to gain the 6-0 victory.