CL captures District Championship

Lions play Decorah tonight with State berth on the line

CL 9, Oelwein 0
    The Clear Lake Lions moved to just one win away from a State berth with a 9-0 win over Oelwein Monday night.  The Lions (32-6) and ranked number three, will play Decorah tonight (Wednesday, July 18) in a Sub-State matchup to determine which of the Class 3A teams will advance to the State Tournament next week.  Decorah (25-10) was a 12-6 winner over No. 9 New Hampton.
    “Decorah is a good team with a good tradition and we know we will have to play a good game to beat them,” said Clear Lake Coach Seth Thompson.  “Our boys have had a great year and we would love to see as many people as possible show up in Charles City Wed. to support them.”

    In the District championship game with Oelwein, the Lions put pressure on the Huskies early and often.  The outcome was never really in doubt.
    Jerry Kockler pitched an outstanding game, giving up just three hits, striking out five and walking one.  There were two hit batsmen.
    “I thought Jerry was outstanding tonight and our offense did a nice job of putting some runs up early to take some pressure off of him and make things a little uncomfortable for the other team’s pitcher,” said Coach Thompson.  “Our defense played what was probably their best game of the year behind him.”
    The Lions pitching rotation has been a key to their wins throughout District play, noted Thompson.
    “So far our pitchers have given up one walk, four hits, and zero runs in 14 innings of District baseball and our defense only has committed one error.”
    The Lions got off to a fast start against Oelwein.  Jake Kockler led off the first inning with a double and Michael Keeran followed with a walk.  Coach Thompson called Keeran’s walk the biggest bat of the game.  The senior fought off 12 pitches to draw the walk.  The Huskies’ pitcher seemed to get flustered by the early base runners and Ozzie Adams capitalized on his nerves.  Adams hit a bullet to right field which scored Kockler and Keeran.  Adams came home on throwing errors by Oelwein, giving the Lions a 3-0 start.
    They added two more runs in the second inning.  Zac Bendickson led off with a single, but was out on a fielder’s choice off the bat of designated hitter Luke Schiller.  Jerry Kockler reached base on another fielder’s choice which eliminated Schiller. Keeran got on base with a hit up the middle which scored Kockler and Ozzie Adams picked up another RBI when he drove the ball to the gap in right file, scoring Keeran. 
    Kockler sailed through the third and fourth innings and the Lion added an insurance run in the fifth on a hit by Schiller and three more in the sixth.  Keeran and Ozzie Adams reached base on singles, then raced home on a double by Tanner Tusha, making the score 8-0.  Gavin Sheakley followed with another double, scoring Tusha.
    Kockler struck out five of seven batter in the final three innings to ensure the Lions’ win.

CL 4, Charles City 0
    The Lions kicked off post season play at Charles City Friday, July 13, at Charles City against the host team.  They shut out the Comets, 4-0.
    “We weren’t thrilled to get paired against a good team like Charles City that always is a tough District opponent the first round and have to play at their field, but we were thrilled with the outcome and thrilled with the way that Ozzie pitched,” said Coach Thompson.
    After giving up a hit to the first batter of the game, Adams sat down the next 20 hitters in order, and did so in a very efficient 74 pitches.  He finished the night with a one-hitter.   He sent six to the bench with strikeouts and walked none. 
    Offensively, the Lions had a nice two-run rally in the first inning after the first two batters got out, and that was all Adams was going to need on this particular night. 
    “His defense played another solid game, as well,” noted the coach.
    Jake Kockler and Zac Bendickson each had two hits, accounting for four of Clear Lake’s six hits in the game.  Tanner Truesdell and Tanner Tusha had the others. 
    The Lions added single runs in the second and fourth innings for the 4-0 finish.

CL 9, Crestwood 2
    The Lions pounded out 14 hits, with every player in the line-up getting at least one, in a 9-2 victory over Crestwood Monday, July 9.
    Freshman Brock Adams led the way offensively with three hits and two RBI.  Michael Keeran, Gavin Sheakley and Jerry Kockler each had two hits.  Tanner Truesdell had the only extra base hit, a- Read More Via e-Edition