Wildcats rout Musketeers for sectional title

KALIDA – Kalida jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead and never looked back on Thursday evening as they downed PCL rival Fort Jennings 16-0 to claim a sectional championship on a warm night at Holy Name Ballpark.

Though the Musketeers loaded the bases in the top of the first inning and looked to take early control of the game it would be the hosts who pushed through first thanks to a trio of Fort Jennings miscues.

Leadoff hitter Brandon Miller ripped a 3-2 pitch from Musketeers starter Evan Hoersten where it would be misplayed at short to give the Wildcats their first runner of the evening. Two more errors and a pair of singles by Colin Hoffman and Ayden Warnecke pushed Kalida to a 4-0 lead before a lineout double play brought the frame to a conclusion.

Kalida added to their lead in the bottom of the second frame thanks to a walk of Ryan Klausing, a single by Miller, and an RBI double from Ryan Lucke. Senior outfielder Luke Erhart’s sacrifice flyout to centerfielder Eli Brown brought around Miller for a 6-0 advantage heading into the top of the third.

In an almost exactly similar fashion to their opening at bat the Musketeers quickly sent their top two hitters to the bases as Aidan Grothouse doubled for the second time in as many at bats and was joined by Carson Gilchriest via a walk.

Fort Jennings inning would come to an end with again no runs to show for their early work thanks in part to a pop foul behind home plate that bounced out of Kalida catcher Gabe Roof’s glove and was caught bare handed by teammate Brandon Miller for the first of three consecutive outs.

Five singles, two walks and a Fort Jennings error accounted for a seven run bottom of the third inning for Kalida to push out to a 13-0 advantage that saw 12 hitters come to the plate that included a mid-inning pitching change for the Musketeers from Hoersten to Grothouse in an attempt to slow down the offense.

Jaden Smith added the loudest hit of the third as he slashed a ball into the outfield to bring around a pair of runs to enact the 10-0 margin and possible run rule victory.

Ryan Lucke, coming off of his first loss of the season in his last start against Lincolnview earlier in the week settled down after the Miller catch and sit down the final six hitters he faced and send his team ahead into their final at bat in the fourth.

Working in his first full inning, Grothouse was tagged for the final three runs of the ballgame on four hits allowed and a trio of walks that would see the Wildcats utilize nearly their entire bench with the bases loaded as either a pinch hitter or runner to amass the final tallies of a 16 run evening.

Sophomore reliever Drew Buss surrendered an opening inning walk to Aidan Grothouse and struck out a hitter before a fielders choice and a fly ball to right field brought the game to an end in the top of the fifth.

“We were nervous and shaky at the beginning but getting out of the first without giving up a run helped relax us a little. Offensively we were fortunate to reach on a couple of errors, but overall I was happy with how our hitters performed” remarked Kalida coach Chad Ehrnsberger on his teams performance.

Fort Jennings season comes to an end at 6-19 while Kalida improves to 17-8 and will travel to Hamler on Wednesday afternoon for a 2:00 P.M. district semifinals matchup with Wayne Trace.

Evan Hoersten (1-5) took the loss for Fort Jennings as he surrendered 13 runs on nine hits while striking out two and walking three. Kalida’s Ryan Lucke (7-1) was credited with the victory as he struck out one and walked two while allowing no runs on four hits in his four innings of work on the mound.