In a summer chock-full of narrow defeats, the Norwalk baseball team’s 2023 season ended Friday night with a hard-fought 3-1 loss to Ankeny in the first round of the Class 4A substate tournament. The game was carried live on the KNIA3 stream.
Ankeny, the number two seed in 4A Substate 7, scored single tallies in the third, fourth and fifth innings and got a complete game four-hitter from senior pitcher Brock Adamson. The Hawks improved to 20-19 overall and will host Ottumwa on Monday night.
Norwalk finished 11-21 on the year, including nine one-run losses – several of which went extra innings. Warriors coach Chad Wiedmann called Friday’s game a microcosm of the season, adding that he was proud of the way his players continued to battle night in and night out.
“I think tonight is a perfect example of how we’re right there on the edge and just can’t make that play, or get that hit, or make that pitch that gets us over the top to win those (close) ball games,” Wiedmann tells KNIA-KRLS Sports. “I felt like we always had opportunities; we were just missing the one piece that took us over into the win column.”
Junior CJ Davis pitched an outstanding game in defeat for Norwalk, consistently changing speeds and locating his breaking ball for strikes against a potent lineup. Davis allowed five hits and two earned runs in five innings.
Adamson, now 8-2, was just a little better, allowing no earned runs and striking out five in seven innings. All four Warrior hits came from the bottom third of the lineup as Aidan Kane went 2-for-3 and Aidan Harder and Dawson King added singles.
Trailing 3-0 in the sixth, Norwalk loaded the bases with nobody out following an error and two walks, but scored just one run on Caleb Ochanpaugh’s sacrifice fly. Unfortunately for the Warriors, the same play resulted in two outs as Ankeny right fielder Reid Johnson made a sliding catch of Ochanpaugh’s sinking liner and doubled a Norwalk runner off second base.
Johnson added a fourth-inning RBI single on offense and Carson Agan had an RBI triple in the fifth for Ankeny. Nine-hole batter Ryan Maire went 2-for-2.
Norwalk bids farewell to six seniors on the roster in Jackson Cambell, DJ Harris, Aidan Kane, Gabe Johnson, Ashton Stream and Ian Fisher. Fisher was the team’s returning ace pitcher but missed the entire season following elbow surgery in the spring.
Softball hosts regional semifinal
The fourth-ranked Norwalk softball team will host Keokuk tonight at 7:00 p.m. in a Class 4A regional semifinal. The game will be streamed live on kniakrls.com (KNIA3). The Warriors bring a 29-9 record into the contest while the Chiefs are 5-23.