For the first time in two years, Pella and Knoxville clashed on the baseball diamond in the Class 3A District Final.
Bucking the trend of a series dominated by the Panthers over the past forty summers, the Little Dutch cruised to their 10-0 five-inning win over the Panthers on Monday. Pella got ahead early off the bat of their senior leader Grant Judkins, who crushed the first pitch he saw to right center for a two-run blast in the 1st inning.
Offense came in bunches for the boys in green, as they scored in every inning of the mercy rule contest. Pitcher Tyler Hillman, who tossed a one-hit shutout in five innings of work tells KNIA/KRLS Sports he was thankful for the run support, which allowed him to attack hitters and stay rested.
“I felt extremely fresh on the mound, and it was awesome that I could just go out there as little pitches as I had thrown,” Hillman, who tossed 59 pitches in the game, says.
Pella was led by a 2-for-2 night from Landon Vander Leest, who scored three times and had a triple, and a 1-for-3 line from Caleb Piersma, who also drove in two runs.
The Panthers fell with only three hitters reaching base in the contest behind a tough night on the mound for four different hurlers. Knoxville Head Coach Joel Johnson says the defense has had to work hard all year to help get wins from a pitching staff without strikeout stuff, and had a great season despite how it ended.
“I think this team did a whale of a job,” Johnson said after the game. “I mean, we don’t have a guy who can strikeout that many guys–we had to get 17, 18 outs with our defense every single game, and in those games where we didn’t make that many errors, we beat people.”
Knoxville finishes the 2016 season at 19-18, and the team says goodbye to seniors D.J. Snyder, Tanner Sharp, and Calyn Bumgardner. No. 5 Pella is the Class 3A District 12 champ, moves to 29-8 overall, and hosts Oskaloosa–who won 10-6 over Williamsburg last night, in the Substate Final tomorrow at 7 p.m. Find full pregame coverage during the Marion County PM Sports Page at 6 p.m., and the Midtown Tire Team Radio Pregame show at 6:45 on 92.1 KRLS.
LINE SCORE (District 12 Championship):
at Pella
Kville 000 00 – 0 1 1
Pella 211 24 – 10 8 0
WP – Tyler Hillman (9-1)
LP – Blake McClung (5-3)
HR – Grant Judkins (6)
Knoxville (19-18)
#5 Pella (29-8)