Little League baseball: Davis County, Appanoose County earn state wins

Jul. 24—CENTERVILLE — Both Davis County and Appanoose County are midway through the 11-year-old Iowa State Little League Tournament.

Each have scored one win and gained plenty of lessons from facing some of the best young baseball teams in the Hawkeye State.

The biggest lesson?

"These teams are a lot better than the teams we've been playing in district play," said Dylan Whisler, who has spent time behind the plate catching and on the pitching mound for Appanoose County. "These teams are a lot harder. They hit the ball better."

Blaine Ewing, Whisler's teammate, knew just how tough it would be to shut down one of those talented teams that made their way to Centerville to take part in the state tournament. Tasked with the start for Appanoose County on Saturday afternoon against Davenport Southeast, Ewing felt like he would have his hands full.

"I was worried that they were going to shell me," Ewing said. "I was thinking they were going to hit the heck out of me. I did not think I would only give up two runs."

Ewing gave Appanoose County, the host team for the state tournament, a chance to pick up two wins on Saturday following a 22-2 victory earlier in the day over Grinnell. After giving up two runs in the first inning, Ewing retired six straight batters while striking out four keeping Appanoose County within 2-0 heading into the fourth.

Davenport Southeast would ultimately pull away for a 10-0 win, stringing together nine hits and eight runs over the final three innings off four Appanoose County relief pitchers. Still, following an opening-game 16-3 loss to Morningside, Appanoose County viewed the day as a positive heading into their final three pool-play games of the state tournament.

"I think I've grown quite a bit as a pitcher," Ewing said. "I'm not used to all the solid hits from the other teams, but we're facing some really good teams. They can hit the ball a lot better and throw harder.

"We just started making some errors late (against Davenport Southeast)," Whisler added. "There's nothing we can change about it now. If we get our bats going and clean up our defense, we can win out."

Despite the combined 26-3 scores in their losses to Davenport Southeast and Morningside, Appanoose County has had their chances against two teams currently battling for a spot in Thursday's state championship game. Against Morningside, Appanoose County loaded the bases in both the second and third innings and were a couple hits away from getting right back in the game.

Morningside, however, preserved a 8-0 lead in the second inning thanks to an unassisted double play by Madden Watson keeping Appanoose County from extending their rally. Trailing by 10 runs, Appanoose County put three runs on the board in the bottom of the third loading the bases with two outs only for Cason Somsky to strike out Cole Shilling keeping Morningside's lead at 10-3.

"We had some nervous miscues early on, but we fought and battled around," Appanoose County manager Caleb Housh said. "Just putting the ball in play is huge. (Morningside) found the gaps against us. We didn't find the same gaps. That happens in baseball. The kids are encouraged. Top to bottom, good things will happen when you put the ball in play."

Davis County proved that in the final game of opening night at the 11-year-old Little League State Tournament, putting at least two runs on the board in every inning of an 18-0 win over Grinnell on Friday night. Six straight batters reached base to open the game in Davis County's fifth straight postseason win.

"It's just been a matter of the boys keeping their intensity up," Davis County manager Adamn Scott said. "They're staying fired up and they're keeping their heads in the game. We're putting the boys right in the places they need to be and the boys have been making the plays. It's been working. Hopefully, it'll keep working."

Davis County, however, suffered losses on Saturday to Grandview (10-0) and Southeast Polk (11-1). Facing Morningside, with a chance to get back near the top of the pool play standings, Davis County came up one run short of a sixth-inning comeback falling 7-6 on Sunday despite a lead-off home run by Corbin Grim, a double by Grant Husted and an RBI groundout by Drake Scott as Cam Warner came on to record the save striking out Nash Good before getting a line out at first off the bat of Carter Shively to close out a key win.

"The boys have been putting in a lot of time in practice. It's good to get off to a good start," Morningside manager Josh Hicklin said. "It's going to be a long week away from home. We had about eight or nine of the kids that were part of the 9-year-old state tournament here two years ago. We love the area. We love the facility. We camped out at Honey Creek and really had a good time. For a lot of us, we're hoping to have the same experience this week."

Southeast Polk leads the way through the weekend in pool play with a 4-0 record, rolling to a 32-2 win on Sunday over Grinnell featuring 27 hits as the young Rams improved to 11-0 this postseason. The reigning 10-year-old Iowa State Little League champions are looking to add a second title for the second-year program with many players and coaches, including current manager Dale Brockman, looking to win a state tournament at Memorial Park for the second time in three years.

"I coached at Grandview with my oldest boy for about seven years," Brockman said. "Little bit more than half of our team played at Grandview. We've got a couple boys that were on that team that won the state championship as 9-year-olds. We've had a lot of fun experience playing together at Southeast Polk. It's been a good time."

Southeast Polk (4-0) and Morningside (3-0) are both holding down the top two positions in the pool play standings with the top two teams qualifying to play in Thursday night's state championship game. Right behind those two teams is Davenport Southeast, who is 2-1 heading into a pivotal contest with Morningside on Monday.

There are still pivotal games to be played for the two District 7 representatives in the state tournament. Appanoose County (1-2) will try to upend Southeast Polk on Monday before facing Davis County on Tuesday. Davis County (1-3) will need to beat Appanoose County and Davenport Southeast on Wednesday to have any chance to qualifying for the state title game.

"The quality of baseball has been really good so far," Appanoose County Baseball Association president and state tournament organizer Chris Cook said. "It's tough tournament, but both Davis County and Appanoose County are playing good baseball. They just have to keep their spirits up and realize they're playing the best of the best in the state of Iowa. This is where everyone comes to play right here.

"They just have to keep battling. The tournament's not over yet."

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.