O'Neill Seniors Win Creighton

Berrypepper Days Tournament

Wednesday found both the Junior and Senior Irish Legion teams in Greeley for a pair of games against GWPS (Greeley-Wolbach-Palmer-Spalding), the defending State Class C Juniors. In the early game, the Irish Juniors got off to a good start by scoring two runs in the first three innings. GWPS struck for five runs in the third on only two timely hits. GWPS scored another in the fourth with only a single. The Irish bats got going in the top of the fifth scoring four runs but the game was called due to time with the score 6-8. Tony Castro started on the mound for the Irish Juniors and was relieved by Kyle Pardun. Tony also had a perfect night at the plate going two for two with a walk and scoring two of the Irish runs. 

In the late game, the Seniors got off to a fast start scoring five in the first two innings but GWPS scored five of their own in the second and third innings. The Irish took the lead with another run in the fourth inning but GWPS scored one in the bottom of the fifth to knot the score again at six. No one could plate another run through the regulation seven innings so the game went to extra innings. In the eighth inning Donnie Taylor and Angel Rodriguez started off with singles, then Calvin Willats worked the count for a walk and the next three batters all put the bat on the ball to tally four runs for the Irish in the eighth. GWPS could only muster a single run in their part of the eighth giving the Irish a 10-7 victory. Donnie Taylor took the pitching duties into the seventh inning allowing only two earned runs and Luke Loecker finished on the mound. The Irish played well as they had a number of calls go against them but they did not get rattled. 

Friday brought the Stanton Mustangs into O’Neill for a pair of games. In the Junior game, Stanton came out of the gate fast, scoring five in the top of the first. But the Irish Juniors fought back with seven runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. The Mustangs scored two in the top of the second and the Irish answered with two runs to stay on top by two. Stanton added one more in the third but the Irish answered again with three more runs. The Mustangs went down in order in the fourth inning and the game was called due to the time limit. The final score had the Irish on top 12-8. Marcus Mc Nichols started on the mound with relief from Tony Castro and Shane Willats. Shane Willats and Shea Lueninghoener each scored three runs with four stolen bases.

In the late game the Irish started by getting a run off of two consecutive hits by Derek Blumenstock and Connor Peterson. The second and third innings were quiet but the Irish scored again in the fourth as Jordyn Johnson started of the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Alex Fuhrer followed with a double to left center and Jordyn stole home for the second time this season. Alex also came home on a wild pitch extending the lead to 3-0. In the fifth inning the Irish started with four consecutive hits and a walk. This led to four more runs for the Irish to extend the lead to 7-0. Meanwhile Angel Rodriguez moved out from behind the plate to the pitching mound and provided five innings of shut out pitching. However, the Mustangs were able to score three runs in the sixth on five walks and no hits when Luke Loecker stepped in to stop the Mustang rally. Jordyn Johnson stepped on the mound for the final inning as the Mustangs could only plate one more run to make the final score 7-4 in a game that was not nearly as close as the final indicated. Both teams will travel to Creighton to participate in the Berrypepper Days Tournament and will start by playing Davenport-Edgar on Saturday. 

Creighton Berrypepper Days Tournament kicked off with both Irish teams playing DES (Davenport-Edgar-Shickley). The Irish Juniors were in a tight game, trailing 2-1 until the bottom of the fourth inning when DES broke the game open with four runs. They added five more runs in the sixth on just one hit to end the game early. The Irish bats were quiet as they could only muster two hits the entire game. Shane Willats and Tony Castro were responsible for the pitching duties. 

The next game the Irish Seniors took on a DES team that was the State Junior Runner’s-Up two years ago. The Irish came out of the gate fast scoring one in the first and six more runs in the second on seven hits. But then the bug that bit the Junior’s bats took over and the Irish could only muster two more hits for the rest of the game. DES pecked away at the lead but Luke Loecker kept them at bay as he pitched a complete game scattering seven hits that resulted in five runs, only three  earned. The game ended on an unusual play where a DES runner was struck by a batted ball for the final out. Derek Blumenstock, Alex Fuhrer and Connor Peterson were all two for three at the plate. 

Sunday’s Berrypepper Days action kicked off with the Irish Juniors taking on host Creighton. Kyle Pardun started on the mound for the Irish allowing only three hits over the first three innings. Tony Castro came in to pitch the last four scoreless innings. Creighton started the scoring with two runs in the second inning and added one more in the third. The Irish answered with three runs in the bottom of the third to tie the game until the final inning. The Irish held Creighton scoreless in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the seventh frame Tate Schutt lead off with a single and stole second. Shane Willats knocked a single that scored Tate with the winning run. For the offense, Tate Schutt was a perfect three for three with four stolen bases to add to his winning run. Shea Lueninghoener was two for two with a walk and Shane Willats was two for four including the game winning hit. The defense was much improved catching eight fly balls and only having three errors.

The late game for the day found the Irish Seniors playing Creighton for the third time of the season. The Irish started quickly as Derek Blumenstock drove a pitch deep over the hedge in left field for a three run home run. Later that inning Jordyn Johnson knocked in Connor Peterson to give the Irish a 4-0 lead. Creighton followed with three runs due to two Irish errors to close the gap to 4-3. The Irish plated two more in the second and one in the third to extend the lead to 7-3. In the bottom of the fourth inning Creighton got two more runs to get close again. Then the Irish answered with four runs in the top of the fifth to push the lead to 11-5. Jordyn Johnson started on the mound for the Irish and seemed to get stronger in the later innings as he sent Creighton down in order in the last three innings. The Irish brought home the championship trophy for Creighton’s Berrypepper Days pushing their record to 12-1. Next week the Irish Seniors travel to Madison on Tuesday while the Juniors play Bloomfield at home on Tuesday. Then both teams travel to Albion on Thursday.