By Mark Zinnel- Buttermaker Reporter The Region 13 C quarterfinals had the #5 seed, Hadley taking on the #4 seed Windom Pirates. All games against these two competitors in the playoff are always hard fought. For Hadley, Windom has been the Buttermakers thorn in the side as the Pirates have had their number the last two years. For this year’s Buttermaker team, they were hoping to turn things their way. A big motivation factor for both teams meant a series victory would result in a ticket to the State Amateur Baseball Tournament. This would be the Buttermakers year as they took down the Pirates in a tough and grueling 3 games. Here is the series recap: WEDNESDAY -WINDOM 6 vs HADLEY 3 On a hot, humid evening in Windom, Hadley Jacob Van Dam would face the Pirate ace, Colin Lovell in Game 1. Hadley led most of the way, but the Pirates would come from behind to take Game 1, 6-3.
Hadley would score 2 runs in the 2nd. The Buttermakers would get 3 hits off the Pirate ace and two Pirate fielding errors helped the Buttermaker scoring effort. Danny Blankenship would single in Hadley’s first run and Kyler Deacon would hit a sacrifice fly for the Buttermakers 2nd run.
Hadley’s lead would last until the 4th inning. Windom would get two singles and a triple off Van Dam to tie the game. Hadley would take back the lead in the 5th. Tucker Sorenson would single to start off the inning Tucker would move to 2nd on an infield ground out by Max Zwart and then score on a single off the bat of Brent Hokeness.
Things looked good for Hadley until the 7th. The Pirates would lead the inning off with a double. The next batter would put down a bunt. Jacob Van Dam would retrieve the ball and slip as turned to throw the ball to 1st. Jacob’s throw would be on time, but Evan Lenz would drop the ball. A single would load the bases. With the infield drawn in, the next batter would hit a ground ball to Derek Kluis at short. Derek’s throw to the plate would be on time for the first out. A single would follow to score 1 run. With the bases still loaded with Pirates, another single would follow to score two and a sacrifice fly later in the inning would score another run for a Pirate 6-3 lead.
In the 8th, it looked like the Buttermakers were going to fight back. Derek Kluis and Alex Petersen would single to start things off. Kyler Deacon would come up a hit a sinking line drive to right field that looked destined to fall in. However, the Pirate right fielder would make a diving catch. Joe Larson would pop out for the 2nd out. Austin Irlbeck would pinch hit and walk to load the bases. Evan Lenz would then step up and pop out to 2nd base to end the threat. Hadley would pick up a single in the 9th, but that would be it as Windom would escape with the 6-3 victory.
Derek Kluis led Hadley with 3 hits. Brent Hokeness would add 2 hits, with Tucker Sorenson, Evan Lenz, Max Zwart, Danny Blankenship, Alex Petersen, and Kyler Deacon would all get 1 hit. Jacob Van Dam was charged with the loss.
Final Box Score RHE Hadley 3 11 3 Luverne 6 8 3 SATURDAY HADLEY 5 vs WINDOM 0 With their playoff lives on the line, the Buttermakers were not ready to have their season end. Tucker Sorenson was given the task to force a Game 3. On a hot, humid afternoon, Tucker gave the Buttermaker faithful a near perfect pitching performance as he shut down the Pirates, allowing only 1 hit, walking 2 and striking out 17 Pirates to force a Game 3. The Buttermakers bats came through with some much-needed run support.
Hadley would score their first run in the 3rd inning. Kyler Deacon would double and move to 3rd on a passed ball and score on a sacrifice fly from Joe Larson. Hadley would have opportunities to score in the 4th and 6th inning but would leave runners in scoring position.
Hadley would add insurance runs in the 7th. After a leadoff fly out, Lincoln Graven and Alex Petersen would hit backto- back doubles to go up 2-0. Kyler Deacon would single, and Joe Larson would get hit to load the bases. Derek Kluis would hit a sinking line drive to shallow right field that would be caught on a diving play that did not allow Alex Petersen to score. Evan Lenz would single up the middle to score 2 runs for a 4-0 Buttermaker lead. Hadley would lengthen their lead in the 8th. Austin Irlbeck would single to lead things off. Austin would steal 2nd and move to 3rd after the catcher’s throw would land into center field. Kyler Deacon would single to score Irlbeck and a 5-0 lead.
Max Zwart and Kyler Deacon led Hadley with 3 hits. Evan Lenz would add 2 hits, with Austin Irlbeck, Danny Blankenship, Lincoln Graven, and Alex Petersen all collecting 1 hit. Tucker Sorenson earned the victory to move his record to 6-2.
Final Box Score RH E Hadley 5 12 2 Windom 0 1 1 SUNDAY HADLEY 10 vs WINDOM 6 Game 3 meant advancing to the Region 13C semis and an automatic berth in the State Tournament, so this game was BIG with the season on the line. Sam Erickson started on the mound against one of the Pirates aces. Despite the final score, the game was tensionfilled, and the outcome was always in question. The pressure of the game was evident for both sides as it was a very error-filled game. Hadley had several opportunities to break things open early but were unable to get that one big hit to pull away.
Windom would score first in the 2nd inning. Sam Erickson would walk 2 Pirate batters in the inning. On a double steal, Brent Hokeness’ throw to 2nd base would sail into center field allowing one run to score. Hadley would take the lead in the 3rd when the Pirates defense would commit three errors resulting in 2 runs for the Buttermakers without any hits. Hadley would leave the bases loaded to extend their lead. Windom would take back the lead at 3-2 in the bottom of the innings when they picked up 2 hits, with a Hadley error contributing to the Pirate scoring.
Hadley would respond by scoring 3 runs in the 4th to take the lead back at 5-3. Hadley’s scoring resulted in the Pirates to make a mid-inning pitching change. Pirate starter from Wednesday night’s game, Collin Lovell; entered the game to shut down the Buttermakers and keep the game from getting out of control. Collin did the job as Hadley once again left the bases loaded. Windom would cut the lead to 5-4 when they would score a run in the 5th.
Hadley would lengthen their advantage in the 6th. Hadley would score 5 times on 3 hits to go up 10-4. Windom would make 2 errors aiding to Hadley’s scoring. For the 3rd time in the game, Hadley would leave the bases loaded. Hadley would fail to score anymore the rest of the game. Windom would pick up solo runs in the 8th and 9th innings thanks to two Buttermaker errors for a 10-6 Buttermaker victory.
Evan Lenz would lead Hadley’s hitting attack with 3 hits. Joe Larson, Danny Blankenship, Alex Petersen, and Kyler Deacon would each pick up 2 hits, with Tucker Sorenson, Derek Kluis, and Brent Hokeness each getting 1 hit. Max Zwart would get credit for 2 rbis; Tucker Sorenson, Evan Lenz, Brent Hokeness, Danny Blankenship, Derek Kluis and Kyler Deacon all had 1 rbi. Sam Erickson picked up the win move his record to 4-1. Sam would record 11 strikeouts and 3 walk and gave up 5 hits over 8 innings. Avery Weber and Max Zwart closed out the 9th inning on the mound for Hadley.
Final Box Score R H E Hadley 10 14 4 Windom 6 6 7 Hadley will now move to the semi-final round for State Tourney seeding. Hadley will take on Gopher League rival Luverne Redbirds. Game 1 will be in Luverne on Wednesday evening at 7:30 pm. Game 2 will be in Hadley on Saturday at 2:00 and then back to Luverne on Sunday at 2:00, if necessary.
