Just a couple of days after winning the Papillion Invite the Warriors returned home for a senior night that the graduating class will remember, winning in walkoff fashion 7-6 in eight innings against Lincoln Standing Bear. Westside came in on a 16 game winning streak including beating the breaks off of Millard South 11-0 to win the Papillion Invite cementing their spot as the top team in Class A, on the other hand the Grizzlies came in unranked at a 13-8 record with some notable Class A wins such as Grand Island and Columbus.
Standing Bear got the scoring started in top of the first with Gavin Bullock driving in the first run off of Westside starter Burke Brown. Westside had no answer for Grizzlies starter Kameron Foster for the first three innings with the only hit in that time coming from a Jacob Schleifer leadoff double, which the Warriors couldn’t cash in. In the fourth Standing bear got a leadoff double from Cooper Schultz, Schultz then stole third and then scored on a sac fly from Jaxson Minzel giving the Grizzlies a 2-0 lead. In the bottom half of the inning Foster made his only mistake pitch leaving a fastball over the middle for Duncan Hansen who crushed it to right center field clearing the wall for his 6th homer of the season and the Warriors first run of the game making it 2-1. “I knew he was all fastball,” Hansen said. “So I just knew I’d do whatever to help the team win, trying to find a way on and I cut a barrel.”
In the 5th the Grizzlies picked up right where they left off, Jackson Froeschl immediately hit a double of the new pitcher Andrew Tagge, then Foster got his run right back smacking a double to left field to bring the lead back to two for the Grizzlies, Brody Hiatt then drove him in with a single that went off of Schleifer’s glove to make it a 4-1 lead in the 5th. Westside managed to get out of the inning leaving the bases loaded but couldn’t get anything going on the offensive side. The score remained 4-1 till the 7th when the Warriors were down to their final three outs. Tagge led off the inning with a single, then Kai Fredrick who was pinch hitting drew a walk forcing Foster off the bump and giving the Warriors some life. Ty Hanna then drove the first pitch off of the new pitcher Avery Linn for an RBI double putting the tying run at second base for the top of the lineup. Braeden Hosey then hit a sac fly that scored another run, Ben Everroad then flew out to left to bring up Hansen with two outs and the tying run on second, Hansen drove the third pitch through the right side scoring Hanna and tying the game forcing extra innings. “Off the bat I was going home,” Hanna said “No matter what even if the coach told me not to go, I’m going we needed a run in that situation.”
In the 8th Payton Wane came on for his second inning of work managing to get two out but putting runners on first and second. Hiatt came up with a full count and crushed the ball to center field driving in both runners and giving the Grizzlies the lead back 6-4. Wane managed to escape the inning with no more damage but the Warriors needed to put on the rally cap one last time. In the bottom of the 8th Schliefer led off with a single then the next three Warrior batters were all hit by a pitch with Fredrick the last one to get hit accounting for an RBI. Hanna then came up with a full count against Bullock and walked, tying the game at six with the bases loaded and nobody out. Braeden Hosey grounded into a force out at home to give the Grizzlies their first out of the inning with Everroad up next. The Warriors tried a safety squeeze that failed which put Kai Fredrick in no man’s land between third and home. He broke for the plate as the catcher threw to third and dove in head first for the Warrior walk off victory.
Head Coach Jason Shockey talks about the final play that won them the game
“That was actually supposed to be a squeeze,” Shockey said. “But in the grand scheme of things it worked and it won us the game.”
For Westside it was a very ugly win but it was a win nonetheless, Schleifer led the Warriors going 2-3 with a walk, Tagge went 2-4 with a big leadoff single in the 7th, Hansen and Hanna had two RBI’s each and Fredrick had two big at bats getting on base twice and scoring the winning run “I was just stuck in the middle and I had to make a play,” Frederick said. “There was no way I was getting back to third base, so once I saw him release it, I just gunned for home”
Westside improved to a record of 24-2 one of the best starts in school history. Westside has a quick turnaround time as they have to face Millard North the next day. Westside has already bested the Mustangs twice this season but will have to come out hot to knock off the Mustangs for the third time this season and improve their winning streak to 18 games. “Millard North is really good and we’ve been fortunate enough to face them twice,” Shockey said. “I know they are going to come in here super energetic like the first two games and we’ve got to continue to play our game.”
