VW Cougars win sectional championship

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

It wasn’t easy, but Van Wert earned a sectional championship and a trip to districts with a 7-4 win over Wapakoneta in front of a large crowd at Russell Fisher Field on Saturday.

The Cougars (22-2), winners of 14 straight, will now play Lexington in the district semifinals.

“Nothing’s easy and we didn’t figure it would be,” Van Wert head coach Charlie Witten said. “Wapakoneta has a real good program and we reminded our kids that they were state runners up last year. They lost a lot of kids (to graduation) but they’re still a highly respected program and they battled us like crazy today, so give them a lot of credit.”

Van Wert enjoyed a 5-0 lead after five innings, with Jaxson Amweg, who was 3-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, scoring on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the first. After a run in the third, a fourth inning double to center field by Jalen McCracken drove in Keaton Brown, then McCracken scored on a single by Amweg to give the Cougars a 4-0 lead.

“Just getting ahead in a tournament game is huge, so when we went up 4-0 that was a huge momentum swing,” Witten said.

An RBI single by Nathan Temple in the fifth plated Hayden Maples, but Wapakoneta (12-11) got on the board with a pair of two out runs in the sixth. Ryan Carrico singled off Lawson Blackmore, then Nathan Ambos and Garrett Siefring walked to load the bases. Owen Treece came on in relief of Blackmore and Braeden Goulet delivered a two RBI single that scored Carrico and Ambos.

“He (Blackmore) is battling a blister on his finger and it kind of kept bothering him,” Witten explained. “He wanted to try to finish but once he loaded the bases I decided to go with Owen, who came in and threw strikes and did what we needed to do there.”

Blackmore allowed just two hits and struck out 11, while Treece went on to allow four hits while fanning one.

Van Wert loaded the bases in the sixth on singles by McCracken and Amweg and a bunt by Jake Lautzenheiser. An ensuing walk forced in McCracken, who finished 3-3 with three runs scored and an RBI, then Amweg scored on a Wapakoneta error, giving the Cougars a 7-2 lead.

“Any time they scored we answered back and any time you take momentum from them it’s a huge thing to do, so the runs we tacked on after they got closer to us were also huge,” Witten said.

Brady Erb opened the seventh inning with a solo home run to right field and the Redskins threatened after a double by Jett Maker and a single by Cooper Talowsky and a sacrifice fly made it 7-4. However, Treece was able to induce the final two outs to end the game.

Van Wert and Lexington (16-6) will square off in the Division II district semifinals at Heidelberg University in Tiffin at 4 p.m. on Thursday. The Minutemen, members of the Ohio Cardinal Conference, have won 11 straight and ride the arm of Ben Vore, who will pitch at the University of Cincinnati.

Line score

Wapakoneta 000 002 2 – 4 6 2
Van Wert 101 212 x – 7 12 0

Wapakoneta (ab-r-h-rbi): Brady Erb 3-1-1-1; Jett Maker 4-1-1-0; Cooper Talowsky 4-0-1-0; Brandon Schneider 0-0-0-0; JR Young 3-0-0-1; Ryan Carrico 3-1-1-0; Nathan Ambos 1-1-0-0; Garrett Siefring 2-0-0-0; Braeden Goulet 3-0-2-2; Isaac Webb 1-0-0-0; Trevor Crow 1-0-0-0

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-so-bb): Timmy Bruns 3.2, 6-4-4-3-1; Braeden Goulet 2.1, 3-3-1-0-3

Van Wert (ab-r-h-rbi): Jaxson Amweg 3-2-3-1; Jake Lautzenheiser 4-1-2-1; Hayden Maples 3-1-2-2; Nathan Temple 3-0-1-1; Lawson Blackmore 4-0-0-1; Parker Conrad 3-0-0-0; Keaton Brown 3-1-1-0; TJ Reynolds 2-0-0-0; Jalen McCracken 3-3-3-1

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-so-bb): Lawson Blackmore 5.2, 2-2-2-11-4; Owen Treece 1.1, 4-2-2-1-0