Jack Rens saw a fastball he liked and he made no mistake about where it was going to end up.
Rens smoked the ball over the left-field fence; the Winnebago Lutheran Academy defenders could do nothing but watch.
“I was little nervous coming up, but I knew I had to do my job. I put a good swing on the ball and I knew it was gone.”
Laconia (14-0 overall, 10-0 in Flyway) scored in both the 11th and 12th innings in its 9-7 win against WLA on Thursday afternoon after the game got delayed the night before for darkness.
The Vikings (4-7, 3-6) tied the game in the bottom of the 11th when Sam Loehr walked and came around to score thanks to two wild pitches and a Miles McAuly single.
Coach Greg Smit said he was happy with his team’s response to the delay with how quickly they started.
"It was a great response to come back on them," Smith said. "We were down early, which was something we haven't been used to all year long. We've been down by one maybe, but not four early like that.
"Then to have to come back today, it was a good test for us and I'm just happy we came out on top."
Logan Pluim pitched both innings for the Spartans, who had already used Keeton Grade, Sawyer Schultis and Ethan Pinno earlier in the week. Despite giving up his first run of the season, Pluim settled in and got the win.
"That second inning, he looked much more like the Logan I know," Smit said. "He got outs much more quickly and didn't give up any runs."
Winnebago Lutheran Academy was down to its final out with no one on base in the bottom of the seventh inning, trailing Laconia by one run.
The next four Vikings then reached base to tie the game and send it into extra innings. Owen Reible singled, Mason Faust was hit by a Sawyer Schultis pitch and Andy Simon and Noah Schumacher both walked to tie the game at 6.
Schultis came into the game in the sixth inning to pitch for the Spartans. He replaced Ethan Pinno, who settled into the game after giving up four runs in the first inning.
Reible drove in two runs on a single to right field in the first. Senior Jack Karst put WLA on the board with an RBI double, scoring Ty Faris.
Both teams were quiet in extra innings. WLA had a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth when Miles McAuly reached on an error and Reible executed a sacrifice bunt to get McAuly to second, where he was stranded.
Laconia scored four of its six runs in the fifth inning. Catcher Colton Hagner hit a missle far over the left field fence for a three-run homer, which gave the Spartans their first lead of the game.
Andy Simon started the game on the mound for WLA. He made it through that fifth inning before Sam Ferguson replaced him in the sixth.
Vikings' freshman Evan Cole entered for all three extra innings and allowed just one hit.
The teams hope to pick the game up in the top of the 11th on Thursday afternoon. Laconia will have the top of its lineup coming to the plate.
This story will be updated once the game is completed. Laconia was 13-0, 9-0 coming into the game; WLA was 4-6, 3-5.
Stats courtesy, GameChanger
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