Harness, Howard combine on 2-hitter as Caston rolls on to sectional final

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Tucker Woolever Eli Holloway

Baseball

Caston 6, Tri-County 0 (Saturday): Carson Harness and Brodie Howard combined on a two-hitter, and Tucker Woolever and Lucius Edson had two hits each for the Caston baseball team in a Class 1A, Sectional 50 semifinal win over host Tri-County at Remington Park Saturday.

Logan Mollenkopf added a hit and two RBIs, and Eli Holloway and London Herd each had a hit and an RBI. Parker Zimpleman also had an RBI. Gavin Mollenkopf had a hit and a run scored.

Tri-County starting pitcher Vance Tyler walked Logan Mollenkopf and Eli Holloway to start the game and then hit Gavin Mollenkopf with a pitch.

London Herd’s RBI groundout scored Logan Mollenkopf. Holloway scored on a passed ball. Zimpleman then added a sacrifice fly.

Mollenkopf and Holloway had RBI singles in the second. Logan Mollenkopf completed the scoring with an RBI fielder’s choice grounder in the sixth.

Tri-County had runners on second and third in the second, but Harness struck out John Humphreys looking to end the inning. That marked the only time Tri-County put a runner in scoring position.

Howard relieved Harness after Harness with two outs in the fifth and retired all seven batters he faced. Harness threw 63 pitches, but it is believed he will be eligible to pitch against West Central in the sectional final today. Howard threw 18 pitches.

The win avenged a 4-0 loss to Tri-County at Caston in last year’s sectional final.

Caston will take on West Central at 6 p.m. today in the sectional final. West Central handled North White 12-2 in six innings in the other semifinal.

Caston defeated the Trojans 19-7 in five innings in their regular season meeting on April 6.

Caston 6, Tri-County 0

Caston 320 001 0 – 6 8 1

Tri-County 000 000 0 – 0 2 0

WP – Carson Harness (4 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K)

LP – Tyler (2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 2 K)

2B – Lucius Edson (CAS)