OTTAWA, Kan. – One big inning of offense pushed the Hays Eagles to a first round win at the American Legion AAA State Tournament on Wednesday evening. The big inning was the top of the fourth when Hays turned a 4-1 deficit into a 6-4 lead. They added an insurance run in the top of the sixth for a 7-4 win over the host team, Ottawa Arrows.
Ottawa struck first by scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Hays got one run back on a Jace Armstrong single in the top of the second. Ottawa again scored two more runs in the bottom of the third inning to push their lead up to 4-1. Trey Riggs then settled in on the mound and the defense came up with big plays behind him.
Hays sent all nine batters to the plate in the fourth inning. Trey Riggs sent a ground ball up the third base line that struck the bag and ricocheted into left field for two runs. After Palmer Hutchison was hit by a pitch, Grant Coffman slammed a double up the left field line to score two more runs. A potential third run was cut down at the plate, but Coffman moved to an unoccupied third base. The extra base proved to be important as Coffman scored on error during the following at-bat and a 6-4 lead.
Highlights
Hays added another run in the sixth on a RBI single from Palmer Hutchison.
Riggs and the Hays defense posted four straight shutout innings to finish of the 7-4 win. The Eagles got out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth on a deep fly ball to left field and then turned double plays in each the sixth and seventh innings.
Trey Riggs pitched all seven inning, just coming in under the 120 pitch limit, throwing 116. He is now 4-5 on the season. Each Brady Kreutzer, Palmer Hutchison, and Jace Armstrong had two hit games.
Coach Dustin Schumacher
Hays improves to 20-13 overall and will play Oskaloosa in the championship semi-finals Thursday evening. Ottawa (31-9) who is the two-time defending state champion will play the second elimination game of the day when the face off against Arkansas City. Oskaloosa used two pitchers in a 1-0 no-hit victory over Arkansas City. The winning run came on a throwing error in the bottom of the second inning.
Earlier in the day, Nickerson run-ruled Leavenworth 14-6 in five innings. Nickerson will play Great Bend, who beat Chanute 2-0, in the other championship semi-final at 6:00. The first game of the day in will see Leavenworth and Chanute in an elimination game at 10:00.