Baseball: North's run done
- Font Size:
- Default font size
- Larger font size
By Christopher Maloney | Thursday, July 17, 2008 |
DUBUQUE, Iowa — For five-plus innings, Davenport North hung right with Dubuque Hempstead in Wednesday’s Class 4A substate final.
But Hempstead took advantage of the Wildcats’ inexperience and errors to record a 7-3 come-from-behind victory.
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, the score tied at 3-3 and two men on for Hempstead, Mustangs junior Ryan Doty hit a slow grounder to short. By the time North shortstop Kyle Williams fielded the ball, Doty was safely at first, and the Mustangs were ahead to stay. That was followed by a run-scoring single to center by Wildcat killer and Mustang pitcher Andrew Redman.
Redman struck out two of three North batters in the top of the seventh as Hempstead (26-10) advanced to the Class 4A state tournament next Wednesday.
Redman held the Wildcats to five hits and was 4-for-4 at the plate with two singles, a double and a triple. He scored three of the four times he was on base.
For North (9-25), there were more positives to take from the loss than negatives.
Wildcats senior Brian Shorter, who hit a run-scoring double in the fourth to put North ahead 3-1, said he was “very proud of this team.”
“Hempstead played a great game,” Shorter said. “We battled back and forth. The Mustangs just wanted this a little more, I guess.”
Wednesday’s substate loss ended Shorter’s high school career, but those coming back next season say they see the Wildcats’ glass as half-full after the strong finish to the 2008 season.
Zach Rohlf, who drove in two runs with his bat and struck out eight with his arm, said he is excited about next year.
“We played well tonight, though maybe not as well as the last two games,” he said. “A lot of people doubted us, I know. I think we proved a lot of them wrong with this postseason run.
“Hopefully we can build on this for next year but take at least one more step in 2009. This year’s experience will definitely help this team next year. I am already excited, looking ahead to next season.”
Contact the sports desk at (563) 383-2285 or sports@qctimes.com.
del.icio.us
Digg
NewsVine
Fark
redditMore Stories By Christopher Maloney
» More Varsity Stories
Highest Rated Articles from the last 7 Days
- Technology News Articles
- Computers, MP3, Phones & More. See Product Pics, Specs & Reviews.
- www.NexTag.com
- 2008 Diet Of The Year:
- Finally, A Diet That Really Works! Seen On CNN, NBC, CBS & Fox News.
- www.Wu-YiSource.com
- Cheap Airfare
- Compare multiple travel sites. Discount web fares made easy.
- www.LowFares.com
- Ads by Yahoo!
