Knutson knocks in walk-off victory

Coaches are often heard yelling at their players to ‘Have fun.'

Brady Knutson definitely helped his Washington High School teammates have fun when his one-out hit brought a game-winning run in from third base for a 3-2 win over Mount Vernon Friday in a Class 3A district game.

'Yes, that was a lot of fun,” Knutson said. 'I just wanted to make contact and get the ball down and in play.”

Luke Turner had started the bottom of the seventh inning with a double and went to third base on a balk.

'Luke did a great job hitting that ball into the gap,” Knutson said. 'I think I hit a curveball down and low and I was just trying to hit it into the ground.”

It went into the ground and found its way past the shortstop.

'I was watching it the whole way I was running,” Knutson said.

As soon as Turner touched home plate all of the Demons raced out to Knutson as he was rounding first base and mugged him with joy.

Knutson, the Demons catcher, also was watching the play that enabled Washington to escape the top of the seventh.

The Mustangs had runners at first and third bases with one out. They had tied the game at 2-2 with a squeze play in the sixth inning.

This bunt attempt went into the air instead of on the ground. Chase McDole was at first base and Kole Hinrichsen was pitching. Both charged the little pop-up.

'Chase said it went off of his glove, then went off of Kole's and all he could see was it floating away from him, so he just went and grabbed it,” Washington coach Nathan Miller said.

McDole fired to second baseman Ethan Patterson, who was covering first, for an inning-ending double play.

'We practice that play every day,” Miller laughed. 'We do do some bobble drills. Sometimes you have to have a little bit of luck and we got a little bit of luck.”

A similiar double play happened in the fourth when Patterson was pitching. He gave up a leadoff single. The next batter attempted a bunt and Patterson made an amazing dive to catch it before it hit the ground, then fired to first for the double play.

'Being aware and staying with the play makes all the difference,” Miller said. 'We put guys in situations where they have to handle adversity and that paid off. Coach T.J.Raush is in charge of infielders and we work on things all the time and it paid off. If you don't work on it and prepare yourself for situations, then you can't handle them when they happen.”

Both Mustang runs were because of Demon errors.

'The two errors were just tough reads on the ball,” Miller said. 'We did a great job of turning the page. We did not let those situations unravel and lead to a big inning. It's easy to lose your sense of game and get worked up in the moment when an error happens, but our guys did not let that happen.”

Trevor Quigley hit a one-out double in the fourth inning and scored on Jacob Miller's single to tie the game at 1-1 for the Demons.

Brant Stout led off the fifth inning with a single and scored on Wilx Witthoft's double to give the Demons a 2-1 lead.

The Demons had nine hits, two by Stout.

Turner and Patterson each pitched two innings. McDole and Hinrichsen combined for the last three innings. The Mustangs had six hits and were walked five times.

'It was the plan from the beginning to change pitchers every two innings or so,” Miller said. 'We made the pitches when we needed to. Those double plays, those are game-changing plays.”

'They were all throwing good,” Knutson said. 'They all put it right where coach called the pitches. We kept changing because we didn't want them their lineup to see a pitcher twice.”

Seeing the game tied at 2-2 in the sixth inning didn't bother the Demons.

'I wasn't worried because I know my team,” Knutson said. 'Every one of us can get a hit at any time. Any of us could make plays like those we did on the double plays.”

'I have been telling our guys since the end of the regular season that it does not matter what the individual performance is,” Miller said. 'What matters is that you give everything you have for every single guy on the team and at the end of the night, the goal is to be up one more run than the other team. That is all we need to care about and that is what happened.”

Washington's record is 22-8 and they host second-ranked Davenport Assumption at 7 p.m. Monday.