Sports

After a tough opening- round 9-0 loss at the hands of the C-4 tournament’s second seed Wilber, the South Central Juniors, the seventh seed in the tournament, rallied back in the loser’s bracket of the tournament, Saturday, July 8, to earn their third win of the 2023 season, improving to 3-10 with a 9-1 dominating win against the Wymore/ Diller-Odell Juniors in Hebron.

South Central outhit Wymore 5-0, as Cody Funk pitched a no-hit gem.

Funk had seven strikeouts in the win, while allowing just one Wymore run. Funk only issued two walks in the no-hit performance through five innings.

South Central and Wymore set at a 2-1 South Central lead after three innings of play, before runs by Josh Spray and Alex Watts gave the guys in blue a 4-1 lead.

Wyatt Hemberger added a run in the fifth, before South Central scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Livgren, Funk, Dayne Clark and Hemberger all scored, eventually gaining South Central the 9-1 win.

The long string of wins for the Sutton Junior Legion baseball team, that would feature seven straight victories dating back to a 7-4 win over Lincoln Christian, June 27, came to a hard stop Monday, July 10, in the Class B, Area-1 post-season tournament. Seward, the top seed in the brackets, upended the second-seeded Sutton crew, 13-7, to knock Sutton into the losers bracket of the tournament.

Seward held a narrow 10-9 hitting edge in the game, with Seward holding an early 3-2 lead after the third inning, before going on a 10-5 run in the final four innings to post the six run win, as Sutton fell to 21-7.

Sutton remained alive in the tournament and were set to take on York in the first of two elimination games Tuesday night at DLD Park.

Eli Nething gained three of Sutton’s nine total hits, as Nething was 3-4 with a pair of doubles and a single, while driving in one run.

Myles Smith, the son of B.J. and Meredith Smith of Sutton, a soon-to-be seventh grader at Sutton Public Schools, has had a busy summer of action on the Nebraska Junior Golf Tour, with his past three events finding Smith in the top three of the 12/13 year-old age group.

Smith cashed in for first place in tournament action at the Southern Hills Country Club southwest of Hastings, winning the June 27 tournament with a nine-hole 41.

During the recent Central Nebraska Junior Amateur tournament at the Lochland Country Club in Hastings and the Riverside Country Club in Grand Island, Smith tied for second place in his age group with an 18-hole 84.

Most recently, in action at the Holdrege Country Club June 28, Smith placed third in his age group with a nine-hole 43.

For the third time this season, the Sutton Junior Legion and Senior Legion baseball teams swept the Tri County squads in final battle, played at DLD Park in Sutton, Sunday, July 2.

The Juniors cruised in a three-inning game, scoring seven runs in the first inning and eight in the third frame to post a 15-0 blanking.

Sutton outhit Tri County 11-0, as Thomas Bonde threw a no-hitter on the mound. Bonde, in 29 total pitches, struck out four.

At the plate, Kaleb Ostrander was a perfect 3-3, while driving in one run.

Adding to the 11-hit run was Aiden Jones, who was 2-3 with a double and a single, while driving in three runs. Bonde’s day at the plate would see him go 2-3 as well, with a pair of singles, while driving in one.

The Sutton Pee Wee baseball team capped a perfect 15-0 season on Thursday, June 29, by capturing the Little Six League tournament championship with a 9-8 win over Sandy Creek in action at Davenport.

The tournament, which ran June 24 through June 29, would see the Sutton kids open their run to the tournament title with an 11-2 win over the Bruning- Davenport Pee Wee-2 squad, before rolling past Superior in the semifinals, 15-0, to reach the championship tilt with Sandy Creek. The one-run win over Sandy Creek was their second one-run win over the SC Pee Wee’s this season, as on May 22, Sutton gained a narrow 7-6 win.

Not only did the Sutton crew claim the tournament title, but they also claimed the league regular season title, going 12-0 during the league season.

Sandy Creek students Landry Borer and Bo Petr recently competed in the Central Nebraska Junior Golf Tournament in Hastings and Grand Island. On day one, played at the Lochland Country Club in Hastings, Petr shot a 45, while Borer shot a 44. At the Riverside Golf Course in Grand Island, Petr shot a 42 to end the two-day tournament with an 87 to place eighth overall. Borer carded a 50 in Grand Island to finish with a 94 to finish 10th in the final standings. Sandy Creek’s Jake Dane also competed in the tournament, placing 21st overall with a two-day score of 165, shooting an 83 in Hastings and an 82 in Grand Island. Borer is the son of Jeremy and Ashley Borer, of Clay Center, while Petr is the son of Adam and Brandice Petr of Glenvil.

The Sandy Creek 14 and under softball team had a big run the past few weeks, as the team, made up of players from Sandy Creek and Sutton, earned a district championship, winning all five of their games in the June 9-11 tournament. During state tournament action in Columbus June 16-18, the girls went 8-0 to claim the USSSA 14 and under state championship. Team members and coaches include, in the front, Kesley Sealey. In the second row, from the left: Kierra Ebert, Emma Scheidemann, Collins Hubl, and Kali White. In the back row, from the left: Coach Shelby Pahl, Carrigan Rempe, Caitlyn Biltoft, Ava Hubl, Harper Lange, Sophia Kuykendall, Madison Shaw, Coach Megan Shaw, and Coach Darren Shaw.

The post-season action for Nebraska American Legion baseball has been set for the three area teams by the Nebraska State American Legion Baseball Association.

JUNIOR LEGION TOURNAMENTS

Sutton’s Junior Legion team will be hosting the Class B, District-1 area tournament, and will run Friday, July 7 through Wednesday, July 12, at Sutton’s DLD Park. Teams coming to Sutton will include: Aurora, Beatrice, Crete, Fairbury, Seward and York.

South Central’s Junior Legion baseball team will hit the road for action in the Class C, District-4 tournament in Hebron. Joining South Central will be Adams, Geneva, Utica-Beaver Crossing, Wilber, Wymore, and Hebron.

State tournament action in Class B will be played in Alliance, with tournament dates set for Saturday, July 15 through Wednesday, July 19. Class C state tournament action will be hosted by Imperial this year, also running Saturday, July 15 through Wednesday, July 19.

A light week of action would add two more wins to the credit of the Sutton Junior Legion baseball team. The Post 61 crew gained revenge over a pair of one-run losses at the hands of Twin River, Tuesday, June 13, with a 7-2 win, before blowing past Fairbury 15-0, Wednesday, June 14, to run their season record to 10-4, their sixth straight win.

Twin River, who claimed a May 31, 7-6 win over Sutton, and a June 4, 8-7 win over the Post 61 crew would see Sutton on their home diamond at DLD Park in Sutton hold an early 3-1 lead after three innings of play, but a 4-1 fifth inning run lifted Sutton to the five-run victory.

Eli Nething earned the win on the mound, allowing two runs on five hits, while striking out seven, and issuing five walks. Aidan Jones closed out the game on the mound, striking out two with one walk given up while no hits or runs were surrendered.