Bottom of order powers Caston to sectional final

N. Herd: 2 for 2 at plate, 2 scoreless innings on mound

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

London Herd Drew McGrew

Baseball

Caston 22, South Newton 2 (5 innings, Saturday): Noah Herd and London Herd had RBI singles in the first inning, and the Caston offense took advantage of wild Rebel pitching to roll to a Class 1A, Sectional 50 semifinal win on their home field Saturday.

Tucker Woolever, London Herd and Drew McGrew, the Nos. 7-9 batters in the Caston lineup, combined to go 7 for 9 with nine RBIs and seven runs scored.

Noah Herd went 2 for 2 with a single and a double and two RBIs, and he also pitched two scoreless innings of relief. Eli Holloway singled, laid down a sacrifice bunt and had a sacrifice fly and added three RBIs.

Parker Zimpleman reached base four times and had two RBIs, and Carson Harness singled and scored twice. Lane Halterman doubled and drove in a run, and Logan Mollenkopf and Geoffrey Foster also had RBIs.

South Newton pitchers walked 12, hit seven batters and threw seven wild pitches.

Caston improved to 20-7 and earned a spot opposite Tri-County in the sectional final at 6 p.m. tonight. Tri-County beat Pioneer 9-4 in the first semifinal.

Keaton Luttrell hit a two-run homer for South Newton, who finished 1-23. The Rebels were coming off their first win of the season over North White in the quarterfinals Thursday, but Caston scored eight runs in the top of the first and never trailed.

Noah Herd’s RBI single brought home Logan Mollenkopf, Gavin Mollenkopf scored on a wild pitch, Woolever had an RBI walk, London Herd had an RBI single, McGrew had an RBI walk, Logan Mollenkopf had an RBI walk, London Herd scored on a wild pitch, and Holloway had a sacrifice fly.

After Luttrell’s homer, Caston scored five more runs in the second. Zimpleman had an RBI single and then scored on a wild pitch. Holloway’s two-run single made it 12-2, and Noah Herd was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Halterman’s RBI double in the third made it 14-2.

McGrew’s two-run single highlighted a six-run fourth as the lead grew to 20-2. London Herd’s two-run single in the fifth completed the scoring.

Logan Mollenkopf, Noah Herd and London Herd pitched a combined three-hitter with 11 strikeouts. Each pitcher threw fewer than 60 pitches, which means all of them will be eligible to pitch against Tri-County.

South Newton left eight on base.

This marked the teams’ first postseason meeting since Caston beat South Newton 10-3 in the 2019 sectional quarterfinals.

Caston’s 20 wins are their most in a season in at least a decade.

Caston 22, South Newton 2 (5 innings)

Caston 851 62 – 22 13 1

South Newton 200 00 – 2 3 1

WP – Logan Mollenkopf (2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 HBP, 4 K)

LP – Mattox (⅓ IP, 2 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 5 BB, 2 HBP, 0 K)

2B – Lane Halterman (CAS), Noah Herd (CAS)

HR – Luttrell (SN)