Cardinals clinch state ‘B’ berth

Washburn-Wilton-Center-Stanton earned its trip to Jamestown, doing so with a late rally.

The Cardinals scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, the game-winner coming across with two outs as they nipped Shiloh Christian-Linton-Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock 3-2 in the championship game of the Region 8 tournament in Steele on Thursday.

Connor Thompson singled home Jesse Henke with the game-winning run to cap the seventh-inning rally.

The Cardinals rallied against Skyhawks pitcher Chance Kurle, who threw effectively. He fanned 11 batters and just one run was earned.

Evan Eberle earned the win, going the distance for the Cardinals. He allowed two unearned runs in the top of the first inning, but that was it.

In loser-out play earlier, the Skyhawks blanked Hettinger-Mott-Regent-Scranton 3-0 to advance to the championship game.

A.J. Dale twirled a 2-hit shutout. Dale also tripled and scored as did Kurle in the victory. Later, Kurle was named the region’s player of the year.

Washburn-Wilton-Center-Stanton will take on the Region 5 champion in the opening game of the state tournament on May 31 at 11:30 a.m. at Jack Brown Stadium.

Region 8 Tournament

At Steele

Loser out

Shiloh Christian-Linton-Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock 3, Hettinger-Mott-Regent-Scranton 0

HMRS 000 000 0 — 0 2 3

SCLHMB 112 000 x — 4 5 0

Kye Erickson and Ben Pearson. A.J. Dale and James Inman. W—Dale. L—Erickson.

Championship

Washburn-Wilton-Center-Stanton 3, Shiloh Christian-Linton-Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock 2

SCLHMB 200 000 0 — 2 2 0

WWCS 100 000 2 — 3 5 2

Chance Kurle and Dale. Evan Eberle and Danny Henke. W—Eberle. L—Kurle.

All-Region 8 Team

Shiloh Christian-Linton-Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock: Chance Kurle, Joey Dwyer, A.J. Dale. Washburn-Wilton-Center-Stanton: Evan Eberle, Kirk Sailer, Brett Schreiner. Kidder County-Napoleon: Matt Gross. Central Prairie: Chris Heinrich, Eric Knodel, Brett Mayher. Hettinger-Mott-Regent-Scranton: Ben Laufer, Chad Mosbrucker.

Senior Player of the Year: Chance Kurle, SCLHMB.

Coach of the Year: Aric Lee, SCLHMB.

Tags: class b, sports, baseball