West Fork baseball reaches semifinals

The West Fork Warhawks baseball team went 1-1 during their run in the postseason after defeating the Colo-Nesco Royals 15-5 in the 1A Substate 3 second round game on July 9. The Warhawks then lost to the Newman Catholic Knights 4-2 on July 13 to end the season with a record of 12-14.

In the game against Colo-Nesco, the Warhawks trailed 2-0 after the top of the first inning but responded in a big way in the bottom of the first as the Warhawks scored nine runs to make it 9-2.

Colo-Nesco scored one run in the top of the third to make it 9-3 and in the top of the fourth the Royals took advantage of a couple of mistakes by the Warhawks that included a hit by pitch, an error, and a walk to make it 9-5. The Warhawks got a run back in the bottom of the fifth when Trevor Desoenas scored a run on a base hit to make it 10-5 with two outs in the inning. The Warhawks then added some insurance runs by scoring five runs in the bottom of the sixth to help the team advance to the semifinals.

The Warhawks had 11 hits in the game, Nolan Shreckengost led the team with three hits, Ashyr Wiseman added two hits, Zander Hansen, Brett Behr, Sage Suntkaen, Trevor Despenas, Braylon Shreckengost, and Edison Maske all had one hit each. Behr, Levi Ruckdashel, Despenas, Wiseman, Braylon Shreckengost, and Nolan Shreckengost all had one RBI each. The team also forced 11 walks in the game, Hansen, Despenas, and Braylon Shreckengost all had two walks each. Behr, Ruckdashel, Suntken, Wiseman, and Nolan Shreckengost all had one walk each. Pitching wise Despenas pitched four innings and struck out five batters while giving up five runs on three hits and six walks. Nolan Shreckengost pitched two innings and struck out one batter.

In the game against Newman Catholic, the Warhawks took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning and added another run in the top of the second to make it 2-0. Newman Catholic had a man in scoring position in the bottom of the fourth inning with a runner on second and two outs, but the Warhawks were able to get out of the inning. Newman Catholic finally got in the board in the bottom of the fifth inning as the got the lead batter on first by a hit by pitch and then had a single to right field to give them two runners with no outs. A bunt by the Knights led to another hit and the Knights soon had the bases loaded with no out and a single to left field made it 2-1. A sacrifice fly tied the game at 2-1 and with runners on second and third a bunt led to the Knights taking a 3-2 lead with two outs and another hit made it a 4-2 game.

In the top of the sixth the Warhawks were able to get runners on first and second with two outs but were not able to score. Neither team was able to score in the sixth inning and the Warhawks were unable to tie the game in the seventh.

Head coach Kayden Ames said that after the game he thanked the seniors for what they have done to help grow the program and he told the team what they can do to improve for next year.

When it came to Newman Catholic’s rally in the fifth inning and how it came by their opponents playing small ball, Ames said that after the inning he told the team to not give up.

“Once you get down in that situation it is just, there is no giving up and keep competing and show we are meant to be here,” Ames said.

The Warhawks saw a big jump this year compared to last year where the team won only five games. Ames said that this year’s success shows the players that the hard work has paid off.

“Because last year we lost a tough game in the first round, so this time we made it to the district final and were a couple of plays away from maybe even advancing,” Ames said. “So it just shows them that all their hard work had paid off and it shows that we did take a jump and we just have to take another jump next year.”

Ames said he hopes the returning players will remember how losing the game hurt and that it sticks with them and use it as motivation.

“So that they work and keep on working and we are able to make it further next year,” Ames said.