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PITTSBURG —
Girard Little League baseball will find something different about the Midwest Regional Tournament and it’s not only playing at Ferguson Field and Stokely Field in host city Indianapolis.
Girard will not play Frontenac and instead plays Robbinsdale (Minnesota), Sioux City Westside (Iowa), the Missouri state champion and Kearney (Nebraska). Girard and Frontenac met four times in district and state tournament play with Girard winning all four — 3-2 and 10-9 in Frontenac and 14-4 and 12-11 in Baxter Springs.
In the first game against Frontenac, Girard took an early 2-0 lead on a Dakota Lopez RBI single and a Colton Barnaby RBI ground-rule double. Lopez hit the longest possible single — a shot off the top of the wall into center and back into play. Lopez pitched five shutout innings and departed with that 2-0 lead. Frontenac tied it up in the sixth and Girard recovered in the bottom of the sixth with the game-winning run coming on a ball hit by Braven Born.
In the second game, Frontenac led 9-4 headed into the bottom of the sixth. Girard found a most opportune time for six runs on seven hits and even its lone out proved most productive — a 4-3 RBI groundout by Ethan Goff. Durable catcher Ryan Hughes started the fireworks with a leadoff homer, then followed singles from Barnaby, Ethan Jahay, Ty Norris, Wade Boatman and Born. With one down, Camden McFarland delivered the game-winning hit.
In the semifinal game at Baxter, Girard simply outpowered Frontenac — delivering 14 runs on 15 hits and overcoming its three errors. Lopez hit a homer and Goff, McFarland and Jahay produced doubles.
The state championship game lasted into late Saturday night — partly because the lights went out in Baxter Springs for nearly 45 minutes and partly because Girard and Frontenac went into extra innings, combining for 23 runs on 28 hits and seven errors.
Girard staked an early 7-1 lead with the help of a McFarland grand slam in the second inning. Lopez and Hughes stroked RBI hits in the third and Girard led 9-2 after three innings. However, Frontenac made an incredible comeback — highlighted by home runs in the fifth by Peyton Brown, Jake Wilbert and Cody Evans and a two-run home run in the sixth by Brown, his third of the game.
Once again, Girard came through with a game-winning play — a single by Cody Mein in the bottom of the seventh established a 11-11 score and the winning run scored on a throwing error on the hit. Hughes led Girard with a 4-for-5 night and Lopez and Mein each added two hits.
Girard Little League baseball will find something different about the Midwest Regional Tournament and it’s not only playing at Ferguson Field and Stokely Field in host city Indianapolis.
Girard will not play Frontenac and instead plays Robbinsdale (Minnesota), Sioux City Westside (Iowa), the Missouri state champion and Kearney (Nebraska). Girard and Frontenac met four times in district and state tournament play with Girard winning all four — 3-2 and 10-9 in Frontenac and 14-4 and 12-11 in Baxter Springs.
In the first game against Frontenac, Girard took an early 2-0 lead on a Dakota Lopez RBI single and a Colton Barnaby RBI ground-rule double. Lopez hit the longest possible single — a shot off the top of the wall into center and back into play. Lopez pitched five shutout innings and departed with that 2-0 lead. Frontenac tied it up in the sixth and Girard recovered in the bottom of the sixth with the game-winning run coming on a ball hit by Braven Born.
In the second game, Frontenac led 9-4 headed into the bottom of the sixth. Girard found a most opportune time for six runs on seven hits and even its lone out proved most productive — a 4-3 RBI groundout by Ethan Goff. Durable catcher Ryan Hughes started the fireworks with a leadoff homer, then followed singles from Barnaby, Ethan Jahay, Ty Norris, Wade Boatman and Born. With one down, Camden McFarland delivered the game-winning hit.
In the semifinal game at Baxter, Girard simply outpowered Frontenac — delivering 14 runs on 15 hits and overcoming its three errors. Lopez hit a homer and Goff, McFarland and Jahay produced doubles.
The state championship game lasted into late Saturday night — partly because the lights went out in Baxter Springs for nearly 45 minutes and partly because Girard and Frontenac went into extra innings, combining for 23 runs on 28 hits and seven errors.
Girard staked an early 7-1 lead with the help of a McFarland grand slam in the second inning. Lopez and Hughes stroked RBI hits in the third and Girard led 9-2 after three innings. However, Frontenac made an incredible comeback — highlighted by home runs in the fifth by Peyton Brown, Jake Wilbert and Cody Evans and a two-run home run in the sixth by Brown, his third of the game.
Once again, Girard came through with a game-winning play — a single by Cody Mein in the bottom of the seventh established a 11-11 score and the winning run scored on a throwing error on the hit. Hughes led Girard with a 4-for-5 night and Lopez and Mein each added two hits.
Girard last played in the regional tournament in 2003.
Six teams qualified for the Midwest Regional and the regional champion advances to the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa.
Minnesota state champs Robbinsdale defeated Centennial Lakes for the prize in a four-inning run-rule contest, 12-0. Christian Costello pitched a shutout and Ben Ianazzo and Beijan Newbern each blasted homers.
Sioux City Westside claimed the Iowa state title with a 10-7 win over Raccoon Valley. Westside overcame a three-run deficit and Luke Johnson broke a fifth-inning tie with a big two-run hit and Austin Carter singled home the final run.
Kearney blew out Blair 15-0 in the Nebraska title game. Thad Huber went 3-3, Cole Staab hit a double for one of his two hits and Jared Wegner and Blake Quintana both knocked home runs for a team which made the Midwest Regional title game last year and finished one win short of a berth in the World Series.
Canyon Lake (Rapid City, S.D.) won a return game against crosstown rival Rushmore 11-1 to claim the North Dakota-South Dakota crown. Rushmore gave Canyon Lake its only loss of the tournament. The 2008 version of Canyon Lake qualified for the World Series.
No word yet on the Missouri state champions.
City populations (2010 U.S. Census figures) — Girard: 2,789. Kearney: 30,787. Rapid City: 67,956. Robbinsdale: 13,953. Sioux City: 82,684.
No team from Kansas has ever qualified for the Little League World Series.
Girard
Colton Barnaby
Wade Boatman
Braven Born
Ethan Goff
Ryan Hughes
Ethan Jahay
Dakota Lopez
Camden McFarland
Cody Mein
Ty Norris
Canyon Lake (South Dakota)
Cooper Bowman
Austin Franke
Tanner Good
Noah Johnson
Conner King
Ian Krump
Will Moore
Samuel Morrison
Brian Petereit
Brooks Rainwater
Jack Sorenson
Kai Torgerson
Kearney (Nebraska)
Christian Dakan
Jake Gappa
Mark Herges
Thad Huber
Brett Kaiser
Matt Masker
Nathan Murray
Blake Quintana
Josh Ray
Zane Schmidt
Jake Skala
Cole Staab
Jared Wegner
Robbinsdale (Minnesota)
Christian Costello
Christian Dickson
Dylan Hajnasiewicz
Donovan Hall
Ben Ianazzo
Beijan Newbern
Joe Parenteau
Leo Pfarr
Ulises Ponce
Eric Scheider
Martin Spies
Henry Wolfe
Sioux City Westside (Iowa)
Kade Bohan
Jameson Bull
Austin Carter
Patrick Foreman
Jack Graves
Tanner Hensley
Luke Johnson
Jacob Jones
Walter Werden
Kyle Windeshausen
