The Aplington-Parkersburg summer sports teams hosted East Marshall Wednesday for their first games in nearly a week. The baseball team walked off for a 2-1 win in nine innings. Missing some key contributors due to injuries, the softball team fell to the #15 (2A) Mustangs 18-0 in four innings.
Trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the seventh inning of the baseball game, a sacrifice fly by Kolbon Hoppenworth sent home Wes Shirk to tie the game at 1-1. After a scoreless eighth inning, Shirk walked to begin the ninth inning. In the next at-bat, Rylan Ascher singled to right field to advance Shirk to third. When the throw from the outfield was wide of the target, Shirk sprinted home and dove in under the tag to seal the win. Preston Janssen pitched 7.2 innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks to help give the offense a chance in the low-scoring game.
In the softball game, East Marshall scored 12 runs in the first inning to create an insurmountable lead. They added five more in the second and one in the third to complete the scoring. Avery Freund recorded the team’s only hit.
Both AP teams will return to action Thursday at Hudson, with the softball game starting at 5:00 and the baseball game at 7:00.
