District baseball titles up for grabs
1A finale pits Alta, Clay Central-Everly
By Jerry GieseJournal sports writer | Posted: Saturday, July 12, 2008
Northwest Iowa's best district championship baseball game will be played at Spencer tonight.
Sixth-ranked Alta (27-4) faces No. 7 Clay Central-Everly (22-6) in a Class 1A finale of evenly matched teams. Alta enters the 7 p.m. title game batting .392 as a team while Clay Central-Everly is hitting .354.
"It's a pretty good matchup," said Alta Coach Jerry Braunschweig. "It's at a neutral site and it's a toss up at this point. Clay Central is very similar to us, a good power-hitting club. They're just like us, up and down the lineup those kids hit the ball well.
"It could be a slugfest. Spencer has a small ballpark, where it's 315 feet down the line, 330 to the power alleys and 350 to center. We score a lot of runs, they score a lot of runs."
It's one of six district title games in Siouxland tonight, all starting at 7 o'clock. The only other state-ranked team still alive is defending Class 2A state champion Cherokee, which is ranked first and takes a 26-1 mark into a game at Mapleton against Tri-Center.
Alta is in the district title game for the fourth time in the last five years while Clay Central-Everly is making its third straight district final appearance. The teams have a combined seven players batting over .400.
Alta, the Northwest Conference champion, is paced at the plate by Jack Mills, a junior centerfielder who's batting .475 with two home runs and 29 RBIs. Other Cyclones over .400 are senior catcher Jake Bibler (.451, 5 HR, 23 RBIs), sophomore rightfielder Ben Stevens (.435, 5, 29), senior third baseman Scott Radke (.430, 9, 47) and junior shortstop Austin Stille (.402, 6, 35).
Cornbelt Conference champion Clay Central-Everly is paced by senior Adam Elbert, who's batting .534 with seven home runs and 40 RBIs. Classmate Garrick Newkirk is at .527 with one home run and 20 RBIs.
The Mavericks were 18-12 semifinal winners over Cornbelt rival Harris-Lake Park Thursday night. B.J. Brugman (.376, 1 HR, 19 RBIs) had four hits for a team that rallied from a 5-0 deficit to score 13 runs in the bottom of the first inning to take control.
Coach Mike Elbert's Mavericks batted around twice in the opening frame, sending 19 to the plate.
"They're the best hitting club we've faced," said Braunschweig. "We have to get off to a quick start. They could do that too. Either one of us could get that big lead and then it's hard for the other team to play catchup."
Gehlen Catholic (20-10) will host Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn (6-18) in a 1A district final at the Riverview Complex in Le Mars. Blaine Damman's two-run single in the seventh inning helped the Eagles upset Remsen St. Mary's, last year's 1A state tournament runner-up, 5-3.
Schaller-Crestland (5-15) will face Ar-We-Va (17-2) in a 1A title game at Holstein, while Sheldon (16-12) will host Okoboji (22-8) in a 2A final.
In another 2A district championship, Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley (16-12) will face Unity Christian (20-8) at Sioux Center.
Sixth-ranked Alta (27-4) faces No. 7 Clay Central-Everly (22-6) in a Class 1A finale of evenly matched teams. Alta enters the 7 p.m. title game batting .392 as a team while Clay Central-Everly is hitting .354.
"It's a pretty good matchup," said Alta Coach Jerry Braunschweig. "It's at a neutral site and it's a toss up at this point. Clay Central is very similar to us, a good power-hitting club. They're just like us, up and down the lineup those kids hit the ball well.
"It could be a slugfest. Spencer has a small ballpark, where it's 315 feet down the line, 330 to the power alleys and 350 to center. We score a lot of runs, they score a lot of runs."
It's one of six district title games in Siouxland tonight, all starting at 7 o'clock. The only other state-ranked team still alive is defending Class 2A state champion Cherokee, which is ranked first and takes a 26-1 mark into a game at Mapleton against Tri-Center.
Alta is in the district title game for the fourth time in the last five years while Clay Central-Everly is making its third straight district final appearance. The teams have a combined seven players batting over .400.
Alta, the Northwest Conference champion, is paced at the plate by Jack Mills, a junior centerfielder who's batting .475 with two home runs and 29 RBIs. Other Cyclones over .400 are senior catcher Jake Bibler (.451, 5 HR, 23 RBIs), sophomore rightfielder Ben Stevens (.435, 5, 29), senior third baseman Scott Radke (.430, 9, 47) and junior shortstop Austin Stille (.402, 6, 35).
Cornbelt Conference champion Clay Central-Everly is paced by senior Adam Elbert, who's batting .534 with seven home runs and 40 RBIs. Classmate Garrick Newkirk is at .527 with one home run and 20 RBIs.
The Mavericks were 18-12 semifinal winners over Cornbelt rival Harris-Lake Park Thursday night. B.J. Brugman (.376, 1 HR, 19 RBIs) had four hits for a team that rallied from a 5-0 deficit to score 13 runs in the bottom of the first inning to take control.
Coach Mike Elbert's Mavericks batted around twice in the opening frame, sending 19 to the plate.
"They're the best hitting club we've faced," said Braunschweig. "We have to get off to a quick start. They could do that too. Either one of us could get that big lead and then it's hard for the other team to play catchup."
Gehlen Catholic (20-10) will host Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn (6-18) in a 1A district final at the Riverview Complex in Le Mars. Blaine Damman's two-run single in the seventh inning helped the Eagles upset Remsen St. Mary's, last year's 1A state tournament runner-up, 5-3.
Schaller-Crestland (5-15) will face Ar-We-Va (17-2) in a 1A title game at Holstein, while Sheldon (16-12) will host Okoboji (22-8) in a 2A final.
In another 2A district championship, Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley (16-12) will face Unity Christian (20-8) at Sioux Center.
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