The North Butler baseball team split a home doubleheader against Northwood-Kensett, falling 12-6 in game one and won 8-1 in game two, and the Bearcat softball team fell 5-2 at #4 (2A) Osage on Tuesday.
In baseball, after falling in game one, the Bearcats bounced back on the mound and had balanced production at the plate in game two. They took a 3-0 lead after three innings with an RBI single by Ezra Almelien in the second, and RBI singles by Wrigley Endelman and Nolan Reser in the third. The Bearcats added some insurance in the sixth with an RBI single by Alex Almelien, and scored three runs in the seventh on Viking errors to go up 8-0. The Vikings ended the shutout with a bases-loaded walk in the seventh, but had their rally halted, stranding the bases loaded to end the game. North Butler Head Coach Chase Stohr.
“You can tell with both games, the time of year, as we’re getting close to the postseason. Both teams were definitely balancing out the pitches and making sure that we have the right guys on the mound. The boys played well, especially in second game. In the first game we spotted them six, seven, eight runs in those first two innings that shouldn’t have happened. That kind of ended up being the deciding factor,” says Stohr. “I’ve just been preaching to the boys, that you never know which plate appearance, which part of the game, which play, pitch, whatever it is, is gonna determine the outcome of the game. Those first couple of innings cost us in that first game but I like how we were able to bounce back and get the win in the second one.”
Brody Wangsness, on the mound for the Bearcats, had 17 strikeouts and didn’t allow a hit or a run in six innings.
“I was feeling good. Pitches were moving. I was locating. Wasn’t walking a lot of guys. Wasn’t running up my count,” says Wangsness. “Chris, he’s caught for me since we were kids. He knows what pitch I want to throw when I want to throw it. What count I’m in, doesn’t matter, he knows what I’m going to. The potential’s through the roof. It always has been. We just need to hit the ball and have confidence.”
North Butler (6-11, 4-8 TIC-East) will play Saint Ansgar in a makeup conference game and at Belmond-Klemme on Thursday to conclude the regular season.
In the softball game, North Butler drove in two runs in the first on an RBI double by Mackenzie Shultz. Osage tied the game at 2-2 with single runs in the third and fourth. The Green Devils took their first lead with a three run fifth to go up 5-2 and held off a Bearcat comeback to sweep the season series.
North Butler (14-10, 4-8 TIC-East) will host Northwood-Kensett on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.
