WESTPHALIA -- The Helias Crusaders didn’t play their best game.
But when they needed it, they put enough together to find a way to win.
“The last couple of innings, we shored things up and got the win,” Helias coach Chris Wyrick said after the Crusaders defeated the Fatima Comets 5-3 on Thursday at Lions Field.
The game was tied at 3 going to the top of the sixth inning.
“These are the games you want to play because these are like playoff games,” Fatima coach Tyler VanGerpen said. “You can’t get this kind of atmosphere in practice, only in games.”
After the first two Crusaders were retired, Sam Wyrick hit a double off the fence in right-center. David Hofherr followed with a single to center to score Wyrick.
“I knew David was going to get the big hit, he’s done that all season,” Chris Wyrick said.
After a walk to Kase Winegar, Ben Miller blooped a single to left for an insurance run.
“That’s two runs with two outs,” Wyrick said. “We haven’t been doing that a lot this year. We need to remember we get three outs in an inning and if we continue to battle at the plate, we can still find a way to score.”
Trey Rice came on in relief for the Crusaders in the bottom of the sixth. Easton Stuckenschneider led off the inning with a single before being erased on a double play. Rice then ended the inning with a strikeout.
The Crusaders went down in order in the top of the seventh against Blake Gentges of the Comets.
In the bottom of the inning, Conner Bax reached on catcher’s interference before the Crusaders turned another double play. Matthew Robertson then got on by an error to keep Fatima’s hopes alive before Rice induced a grounder to short to end it for his third save of the season.
“(Rice) has got good stuff,” Wyrick said. “If we can get five innings out of our starters, we’re confident Trey can close it out.
“He knows when the game is on the line and we’ve got the lead, he’s going to be out there.”
Cole Scheulen got the win, pitching the first five innings. He allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and no walks while striking out two.
“He battled, he’s just ornery enough when he gets himself into trouble, a lot of times he will find a way to get himself out of it,” Wyrick said.
The first five Crusaders reached base to start the game, but the top of the first ended with Helias scoring just one run after having two runners thrown out on the bases.
“We made it a little more difficult on ourselves than we should have, but credit to Fatima, they’re a good team and they make it difficult on you,” Wyrick said. “They don’t let you get away with mistakes and we made mistakes.”
Fatima scored two runs in the bottom of the first. A single by Stuckenschneider scored Gentges, who was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Jacob Schulte of the Comets, who also reached on a hit-by-pitch, later scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-1.
“It was a good response, a long top of the half inning usually doesn’t correlate to a good bottom of the half,” VanGerpen said.
Helias tied it in the second when Thorn Phillips was hit by a pitch and later scored on a single by Sam Wyrick.
“Their whole lineup is good,” VanGerpen said. “I’m sure they were helped by that trip to Florida where they got play five games where we don’t get that opportunity and we’re stuck in Missouri where it’s 40 (degrees), windy and cold.”
Both teams scored a run in the fifth. Myles Gresham drove in Helias’ run, hitting a single to score Landon King. In the bottom of the inning, Gentges doubled with two outs and scored on a single by Blake Kliethermes.
Brody Kleffner started for Fatima, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits and two walks while recording three strikeouts. Kliethermes took the loss in relief, giving up three runs on four hits and three walks with one strikeout.
Stuckenschneider had three hits to lead Fatima, while Gentges had two hits and scored twice.
Fatima (4-2), receiving votes in the Class 4 state poll, will host St. Elizabeth on Monday and Battle on Tuesday.
Helias (7-1) is back in action Monday against the Blair Oaks Falcons at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex. The varsity game will start at 5 p.m.
Thursday’s junior varsity game ended in a tie at 4.