OTTAWA — The Iola Post 15 Indians earned their first victories of the American Legion season after sweeping the Ottawa Post 60 Arrows 8-4 and 10-0 Thursday night.
A grand slam by Iola outfielder Broderick Peters in the opener blunted the Arrows’ momentum and strong defense kept them at bay as Iola picked up their first two wins of the season.
“Tonight we played as a team,” coach T.J. Taylor said.
Trailing 3-0 after going scoreless in the first two innings, Iola shortstop Tyler Lord put the Indians on the scoreboard after reaching home on a passed ball. During the same at-bat, outfielder Kale Pratt’s sacrifice fly pulled the Indians within a run and trailing 3-2 after the third inning.
Loading the bases with a walk, a single and an infield error, a slumping Peters stepped into the batter’s box. Waiting for the right pitch with two balls and a strike, Peters finally found one he liked as he sent it over the left-center fence.
“I was nervous, because I hadn’t been hitting well recently, and I knew we needed a spark,” Peters said. “I guess that spark hit. It was smooth and I felt it right off the bat. I feel more confident in the box.”
Still in the fourth, the Indians added another run to their lead with a Pratt RBI single, then a sacrifice fly by pitcher Ty Shaughnessy plated an insurance run in the seventh. Shaughnessy posted nine strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings. He locked in after walks and an errant pitch allowed three early runs but made an early exit after reaching the 110-pitch limit. Dalton Lingenfelter got the save after throwing a scoreless 1 1/3 innings.
Kale Pratt, American Legion 19U pitcher, throws a strike while holding Ottawa to just two hits in the nightcap Thursday.
Pratt and White tied for the team lead in hits while successful in 2 of 3 at-bats. Pratt was second in RBIs with two and Shaughnessy had one. Catcher Dominic Smith was perfect in the opener in 2 of 2 at-bats with two walks.
The Indians made quick work of the Arrows in the nightcap. As Pratt held Ottawa to just two hits with five strikeouts in a four-inning shutout, the Indians slowly pieced together an insurmountable lead until culminating the night with a five-run fourth inning.
“We started off with five runs, so I just had to go in there and pitch,” Pratt said. “I thought I’d give the guys a little rest and just strike them out and get outs with small ground balls. It was just one pitch at a time.”
Lord took advantage of an errant pitch to score and put Iola ahead in the opening inning, then a Lingenfelter grounder added another run moments later. The Indians added three more runs in the third after third baseman Thomas Allee took advantage of another errant pitch, then White plated another runner with a single.
Looking to get on the road before 10 p.m., outfielder Brock Michael reached home on another errant pitch. A two-RBI Shaughnessy single pulled the Indians within two runs of a mercy-rule the next at-bat. With two strikes, Allee ended the game with a chopper up the middle scoring two runs and giving the Indians their second win of the season.
Shaughnessy and Allee tied for the team lead in RBIs with two each, followed in White and Lingenfelter with one each. White was Iola’s leader in hits while successful in 2 of 3 at-bats.
Following Thursday’s sweep, the Indians even their record at 2-2. They’ll hope to get above .500 Sunday, when they host the Kansas Curve of Wichita for a doubleheader.
“We scheduled our toughest games early in the season to give us a test, to figure out what we need to work on and go from there,” Taylor said.
