The Pella Christian baseball team survived a 10-inning, 2 hour and 45-minute marathon to stun four-time defending State Champion and top ranked Van Meter 2-1 in the Class 2A Substate 6 final Tuesday night, heard live on 92.1 KRLS.
The pitching dominated the game from the start, as the Eagles and Bulldogs combined for just six baserunners in the opening five innings with no runners advancing beyond second base. Pella Christian finally got a runner to third base in the sixth inning and put two runners on in the seventh, but the threat of runs came to pass. Following eight scoreless innings of play, the Eagles loaded the bases in the top of the ninth and Caleb Van Arendonk broke the scoreless tie by scoring on a Simon Belzer sacrifice fly. Van Meter answered with back-to-back doubles to lead off the bottom of the ninth to even the score at 1-1, and loaded the bases with one out, but Lincoln Vander Molen worked himself out of the jam to send the game to the 10th.
Corbin Westerkamp recorded his third single and stolen base with one out in the top of the 10th and advanced to third on a Vander Molen ground out. With the tie-breaking run just 90 feet from home plate, Eliot Menninga’s chopper ate up the shortstop and plated Westerkamp to put Pella Christian on top 2-1. In the bottom of the tenth, Vander Molen recorded a strikeout and produced two weak grounders to Van Arendonk at second base to finish off the stunning upset.
Westerkamp fooled the Van Meter bats all night, throwing 7.2 innings of no-hit baseball, while striking out 11 and allowing just two walks. After Westerkamp reached the state of Iowa’s pitch count limit of 110, Vander Molen came on in relief and allowed just one run on two hits, two walks, and two strikeouts in the final 2.1 innings. In addition to his excellent pitching, Westerkamp powered the Eagles offense by going 3-for-5 with three stolen bases and the eventual game-winning run.
The Pella Christian baseball team begins their first appearance at the State Tournament since 1994 on Tuesday, July 18th at 11 a.m. against #3 ranked Beckman Catholic.