D1 Sectionals: Kimberly Returns To Defend Title
June 5, 2018
In Game 1 of the Sectional No. 3 West De Pere took on No. 24 Oshkosh West with West De Pere prevailing 3-0. No. 16 Kimberly defeated No. 14 Hortonville 7-6 in walk off fashion in Game 2. No. 16 Kimberly won the 1A Appleton Sectional by taking down No. 3 West De Pere 9-4, punching their ticket to the State Finals.
Langreder Silences Wildcats’ Bats
The West De Pere Phantoms took down the Oshkosh West Wildcats 3-0 in the first game of the Appleton Sectional action. Connor Langreder (Northern Illinois commit) and Michael McBriar (McHenry County JC commit) went back and forth, but in the end it as Langreder who would prevail. In picking up the win, Langreder tossed six and a two thirds, scattering three hits, walking four and striking out five. If it were not for pitch count limitations, Langreder would have finished what he started.The Phantoms’ offense utilized timely hitting to knock across a run in each of the second, third and fourth innings. In each of these innings, the West De Pere leadoff man reached base safely through a single. Cameron Dupont led the second inning off with a single, Nick Pawlak led the third off with a single, and Bennett Olson led the third off with a single. Dupont, Pawlak and Olson would all come around to score later in each inning.
Dupont, Pawlak, Olson paced the Phantom offense with two hits apiece. On the other side, Ben Kohl, Bryce Koch and Brayden Ewing recorded the Wildcats’ three hits.
Kimberly Rallies For Wild Walk Off
A back and forth battle, Kimberly jumped out to a 2-0 lead after four innings. Zach Lechnir would be the first run across in the third and then Jordan Purdy would double the lead in the fourth on a sacrifice fly.Everything seemed to be going Kimberly’s way, until they needed a third out in the fifth inning. Hortonville strung together five singles, two walks and one hit batter in the inning, all with two outs, giving them the 6-2 advantage.
The Kimberly offense would chip away though, adding one run in the bottom half of the fifth and another in the sixth, setting up the seventh inning dramatics..
Down 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh, men on first and second with two outs and an 0-2 count, Kimberly desperately needed a hero. On this afternoon, that hero came in the form of Jordan Purdy.
Purdy flicked the barrel of his bat at an outside fastball resulting in a fly ball to the right center gap. The ball seemed to float in the air forever, just hanging there. Hortonville right fielder Lucas Wenzel, in a dead sprint, laid out to make the game ending catch, but came up just short of the ball.
Wenzel unable to get to the ball, Kimberly scored one run, tying it at 6-6. Coach McGinnis saw an opportunity to end the game and took it. With the Hortonville outfield in disarray, Michael Alt was waved around third base. The Hortonville relay skipped across the infield stopping just shy of the fence along the third base line. Alt came sliding home to the roar of the Kimberly crowd and his frenzied teammates.
Purdy and Alt led Kimberly offensively. Purdy collected one hit and three RBI in three at-bats while Alt led the team in hits with two, also adding an RBI and run scored, Donovan Schultz picked up the win. For Hortonville, Eli Kramer (Nebraska commit) went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Jase Kroll collected two hits in the game.