Daily Newsletters
Account
Washington Evening Journal
111 North Marion Avenue
Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
Tigers outlast Huskies
New London needs just one in district-opening pitcher’s dual
RIVERSIDE — With New London’s Brendan Richey and Highland’s Ethan Paisley on the mound, both teams knew just a few runs might make a difference in a Class 1A District 5 battle on Saturday night. As it turns out, it was really just one.
Richey and New London sneaked past Paisley and Highland 1-0, knocking the Huskies out of postseason play and earning a trip to the district quarterfinals in the process.
“Luck was just on our side today,” Richey said. “(Paisley) pitched great, but we just stuck to our plan.”
The two starting pitchers went punch-for-punch all night long. After trading zeros for five-straight innings, New London finally pushed one across in the sixth.
Tate Welcher led the sixth inning off with a little dribbler down the third base line. An error on the throw over to first helped Welcher turn what would have been an infield single into a Little League, triple, getting to third with nobody out.
“I saw that curveball out of the hand early,” Welcher said. “I knew I had to make contact, and then I just turned on the burners.”
Welcher was lifted for a courtesy runner, who scored on a wild pitch with two outs. The earned run went on the record of Paisley, who was lifted just before the wild pitch after getting to 90 pitches, the exact number he needed to be pulled at to be eligible for the next round.
“The plan the whole time was for him to go 90 for us, so we had the potential to bring him back had we won,” said Highland head coach Seth Milledge. “You hate to take him out, but at the same time, you try to stick to your guns, plan-wise.”
Highland got the lead off runner on first in the top of the sixth, but on a looper down the right field line, eighth-grader Riley Raines made a sliding catch and popped up to throw out the runner at first, stopping what could have been a first-and-third situation.
“Riley is an eighth-grader, and I trust him out there,” said New London head coach Jayden Flowers. “He's got confidence in himself, and he made a great play.”
Highland reliever Peyton Yeggy wiggled out of a bases-loaded situation in the top of the seventh, which gave the Huskies a shot in their final at-bat, and Highland got right on the door step of tying or winning the game.
The Huskies loaded the bases with two outs against Richey, who was still under 90 pitches himself. Landon Roling delivered a blooper to very shallow right field, but New London second-baseman Kye Reighard was there to make the catch and end the game.
“Hats off to our guys,” Milledge said. “We load the bases at the end of the game, have runners in scoring position, and we put a bat on the ball.”
New London, now 8-14, will get a shot to knock off eighth-ranked and top-seeded Notre Dame on Wednesday night. That game will be played at Notre Dame High School.
