Pella vs Chariton Finish (07-16-12)
A back-and-forth slugfest between Pella High and Chariton came down to the final out in Monday night’s 8-7 win for the Little Dutch in the Class 3A District Finals – a game that was heard live on 92.1 fm KRLS.

Starting pitcher Schyler Kane went the distance for the Little Dutch Pella’s second consecutive one-run victory. The senior hurler overcame a three-run first inning and four more runs in the third to close out the final four innings with only one hit and one walk allowed. In all, Kane allowed six earned runs on eleven hits and one walk, while striking out seven Chariton batters. As strong as Kane was on the mound, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to win it all without the help of some very timely hits.

“I tell you what, [if] you want to take a look at a stat sheet – take a look at the bottom half of our order a little bit. Brett Kingery, Daniel Langenfeld – I think Daniel was 2-for-3; [and] Brett had a hard single to right field early in the ball game,” said Pella head coach Al Vasher. “The true baseball purist understands that just gets you one step closer to rolling that lineup back over to the top. We always knew we could score runs at the top of our order, [but] we just needed the middle and the bottom to produce a little bit, and they did tonight.”

Langenfeld also had a walk and recorded an RBI to round out his stat line, while Kingery was 2-for-4 with a team-high three RBIs and key hits during important scoring rallies for the Little Dutch in the second and fifth innings.

Pella is now 19-16 overall and advances to the Class 3A Substate Final on Wednesday night in Norwalk; where they’ll face highly-touted Dallas Center-Grimes. The Mustangs defeated the Little Dutch 12-3 earlier this season.