Washington season ends

WASHINGTON -- According to the Handy Answer Science Book, the odds of a triple play in a baseball game are about 1,400 to 1. In Major League Baseball, there is an average of approximately five per season. The frequency of triple plays is 0.0033 per game or about one out of every 303 games.

That is the kind of odds Washington ran into when Clear Creek-Amana opened the Class 3A postseason with a 4-1 win over the Demons with the help of a triple play.

“We just had weird things happen in the game,” Demon senior and third baseman Wilx Witthoft said. “That was my first time seeing a triple play in a game. It’s just weird to see that happen against us.”

“I thought we played a great game we just came up short,” Demon senior right fielder Reece Mayer said.

Trailing 4-1, Kole Williams laced a double deep into left field and Matt Wolf was hit by a pitch. CCA third baseman Reece Hoffman charged Travis Leyden’s bunt and made a diving catch for an out then threw to second to double off Williams and the throw to first completed the triple play and ended the inning.

“That was a tough one. We had both runners take off,” Washington head coach Nathan Miller said. “That’s not the reason we are going home but when those types of plays happen, it makes it very difficult to win.”

Williams threw four innings for the Demons. He gave up two hits, two walks and hit a batter in the second inning when the Demons had two errors. All four Clipper runs scored that inning.

"The game of baseball is a game of opportunities,“ Miller said. ”In the second inning, they capitalized on situations that we placed ourselves in.“

Ethan Patterson threw the last three innings with four strikeouts and two hits.

“It would have been easy to pack it in after that but Kole gave us another two good innings and Ethan did great in just his second outing,” Miller said.

The Demons had 10 runners in scoring position with less than two outs and scored one. The Clippers left six men on base, two of those in the seventh inning.

"(CCA) got good solid hits with people on base so that helped them out a lot,“ Witthoft said. ”I don’t know what we could’ve done different, I really don’t. Our hitting towards the end of the season just died down and that really sucks for us.“

“We just couldn’t find a way to get runners across,” Miller said. “It wasn’t lack of effort because the kids battled all night, and that is what I am most proud about.”

Patterson and Jacob Miller had the other two Demon hits. Witthoft’s ground out brought Patterson home in the third inning.

Washington ends the year with a 15-14 record. CCA advances with a 16-16 record to play Davenport Assumption 24-13 Monday.

“Our pitching struggled to throw strikes at the beginning of the year but our offense was there averaging nine runs a game, then lately here our pitching has kept us in tight games but we haven’t had the sticks,” Miller said. “We have seen improved pitching at the end of the year in an effort to prepare for the postseason. The teams that go far have both components working and play good defense.”

The Demons fielded at 93 percent on the year.

Seniors Mayer, Witthoft and Myles Jones end their Demon careers.