Published: May 31, 2009 12:28 am      

Comets, Panthers both fall

Cass County rivals fall in sectional semifinals

REMINGTON — There will be no Caston-Pioneer sectional championship baseball game. Not this time.

The arch-rivals fell during separate semifinal matchups Saturday at the Class A Tri-County Sectional. In the first semifinal Pioneer was blanked by West Central 3-0. In the second semifinal Caston fell against North White 6-5.

“North White finished second in the [Midwest Conference behind top-ranked Frontier] and West Central was third, so they were probably the two front-runners,” Pioneer coach Dick Farrer said. “But I thought it was up for grabs, and it was because either game [Saturday] could have gone either way.”

Pioneer ends its season 9-18 and Caston finishes 15-14. West Central (14-12) will face North White (15-10) Monday for the sectional championship.

West Central 3, Pioneer 0

The Trojans scored three unearned runs in the fourth inning for the game’s only runs. Pioneer junior right-hander Austin Kiser allowed just four hits and two walks, striking out four. A pair of Panther errors in the fourth led to the unearned runs.

“He threw the ball well,” Farrer said of Kiser. “We made a lot of defensive plays. The problem was when you make errors, sometimes you get out of it and this time we didn’t. We made a lot of good plays but the errors we made were together. ... We dropped a ball we normally don’t drop, and a ball got through that would have been nice if it wouldn’t have, but it did.”

The Panthers, meanwhile, managed just three hits themselves, singles each by Andrew Glassburn, Mitchell Petrie and Evan Daily.

“We’ve been swinging the bats so well, and we left 11 runners on base,” Farrer said. “We hit the ball and they made the plays. Some games you hit the ball well and find holes, and some games you hit it right at ’em. That was an at ’em game.”

The Panthers didn’t take advantage of the Trojans’ three errors.

“It was on easy balls that they booted, and we couldn’t take advantage of it,” Farrer said.

North White 6, Caston 5

The Comets jumped out to a five-run lead after two innings but didn’t hold on. The Vikings rallied to tie it at 5-all going into the seventh, and in the bottom of the seventh they scored an unearned run to escape with the victory.

North White’s No. 3 hitter Steven Steele opened the seventh with a fly ball to the warning track that was dropped for a three-base error. Cleanup hitter Dustin Hileman followed with a game-winning RBI single.

“In a big sectional game when you’re playing a team that’s pretty good, you’ve got to be able to execute,” Caston coach Blake Mollenkopf said, “and we didn’t get it done [Saturday].”

The Comets led 5-3 going into the bottom of the sixth when a North White batter reached with an error to start the frame. After back-to-back strikeouts that could have ended the inning, the Comets walked a hitter to put runners on first and third before they ran into some bad luck. North White hit a ball off of first base that ended up right field on a ball that otherwise would have likely been fielded for the third out. Instead two runs scored on a double to tie the game.

The Comets opened the game with two runs in the first on a two-run double by Tim Huff. They added three more in the second on an RBI single by Wil Holloway and a two-run double by Ethan Zartman. Both rallies began with two outs in the inning.

Zartman went 2-for-4, and Huff and Chanse Baldwin each went 1-for-3. Zartman, Baldwin, Austin Ault, Evan Pulliam and Holloway each plated runs.

Brent Jones earned the win in relief for the Vikings. Hileman led them at the plate in going 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

“Jones came in and did a nice job on the mound,” Mollenkopf said. “We had opportunities in the third, fourth and fifth when we got a runner on second base where we needed to cash them in with a hit, and we didn’t get it done. We kept pressure on them.”

Shawn Rentschler (5-5) allowed six runs, four earned, on seven hits and four walks, striking out eight in the loss.

“He started off real strong and got a little tired at the end of the game,” Mollenkopf said. “He threw outs that we should have made plays on.”

Class 4A Lafayette Jeff Sectional

Logansport (14-12) faces ninth-ranked Kokomo (21-7) at 7:30 p.m. Monday night following the 5 p.m. semifinal between Harrison (9-20) and McCutcheon (14-14). The final is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday night.

Class 2A Wabash Sectional

Cass (15-8) goes up against Manchester (14-9-1) at 5 p.m. Monday night before Wabash (4-20-1) plays Northfield (15-13) at 7:30 p.m. The title game is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday night.

Class 2A Delphi Sectional

Carroll (10-11) faces Fountain Central (19-8) at 7:30 p.m. Monday night following the 5 p.m. semifinal between Seeger and Clinton Central. The final is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday night.

• Beau Wicker is the sports editor of the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached at (574) 732-5113 or beau.wicker@pharostribune.com