NEW BLOOMFIELD - It took awhile, but No. 3 New Bloomfield was able to find their swing late in the game to defeat No. 6 Russellville 7-1 in the first round of the Class 2, District 8 tournament at New Bloomfield High School.
While it was a six-run difference, it was just a 1-0 Wildcat lead until the fifth inning.
"We saw a decent pitcher tonight," New Bloomfield coach Justin Forsythe said. "He had a good breaking ball. We didn't make good adjustments as a team until about the sixth inning. We got a couple on (base) in that first inning, but we didn't get as many as we wanted."
The Wildcats will now face Calvary Lutheran today at 7 p.m. in the semifinals. The seventh-seeeded Lions upset No. 2 Vienna 7-0 in the nigh cap of the first-round games.
In the opening inning, New Bloomfield looked poised to put a crooked number on the board. Sam Niedergerke led off with a double and Grant Nichols singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. Neidergerke scored off a Tucker Lane sacrifice fly, then Russellville's Seth Kuda retired the next two batters to end the threat.
Kuda settled down after that to not allow another run until the fifth inning. He pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up six runs - five earned - on nine hits.
"Seth pitched as well as he's thrown all season," Russellville coach Lucas Branson said. "Obviously districts is the biggest game of the year, and he stepped up."
But New Bloomfield was able to adjust and add to its lead in the fifth inning. Tyler Fennewald connected with a pitch that easily cleared the left field fence for a two-run home run to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.
"Tyler is our best hitter, but he's kind of been slow with it lately," Forsythe said. "It was just a matter of time and it was good to see. When he's hitting the ball out of the park, we're going to be a tough team to beat."
Fennewald was 2-for-4 from the plate with three RBI.
Russellville was able to answer in its next at-bat, scoring Zach Voss from second off a single from Caleb Harrison. But that would be the only offensive highlight for the Indians, as they struggled moving runners past second base.
New Bloomfield's Brady Wiler pitched a gem, allowing one earned run on three hits. While the Indians didn't record a hit until the fifth inning, he allowed the leadoff batter to reach four times. Wiler was able to get ground balls for double plays or fielder's choices to get the lead runners.
"Brady is a senior, so I gave him the ball," Forsythe said. "I thought he earned it all year by coming out every game and competing. Lately, he's been getting a lot of ground balls for us, and that kind of showed tonight. We had three double plays, and a web-gem by (second baseman) Clay Jensen.
The Wildcats exploded in the bottom of the sixth for four runs, putting the game away. Boyd Kempker started things off with a single, then scored when Niedergerke hit a routine pop-fly to right field with two outs. The ball hung in the air so long, Kempker was at third base by the time the ball dropped due to miscommunication by the Russellville outfielders.
The next four New Bloomfield batters reached base, allowing the Wildcats to add three more runs to push their lead to 7-1.
"The kids finally stepped up and made those adjustments and it helped out a ton," Forsythe said.
Niedergerke batted 3-for-4 with an RBI and Nichols was 2-for-4 from the plate with an RBI to pace the one and two holes in the Wildcats' lineup.
In the late game, Beau Monson pitched Calvary past Vienna, earning the two-hit, complete-game shut out while striking out 11 and he allowed just one walk.
The Lions jumped out fast in first inning. Monson led off the inning with a single, then stole second and third base. A fielder's choice off the bat of Bradley MacLaughlin scored the run.
A four-run inning opened things up in the third for Calvary. Back-to-back singles with one out by Monson and Colin Bernskoetter, then MacLaughlin was hit by a pitch a couple batters later to load the bases. Tristan Clementich then doubled to right field to plate two runs, and Shay Crisp reached on an error by the shortstop that score two more to extend the Lion lead to 5-0.
Another run in the fourth and seventh innings finished off the Calvary scoring. Raymond Eickmeyer scored from second when Jordan Duenckel tried to sacrifice bunt him to third, but the catcher threw the ball away when trying to throw out Duenckel at first.
In the seventh, the Lions used three walks and a hit-by-pitch to plate their seventh run.
Monson was 2-for-4 from the plate and Clementich was 1-for-3 with 3 RBI.
Earlier in the day, No. 4 Iberia beat No. 5 Belle 4-2 to earn a date with No. 1 Linn today at 4:30 p.m.