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Litterest and Valle Catholic silence Kelly bats in 5-1 win
CHAFFEE -- Unable to find an answer to Valle Catholic starter Tyler Litterest on Monday, the Kelly Hawks saw their season come to a close in the semifinals of the Class 2, District 3 Tournament.
In out-dueling Kelly ace Ian Householder, Litterest pitched six no-hit innings to lead his team a 5-1 final that has the reigning district champions back in the finals.
"You have to credit their pitcher," Kelly head coach Josh Eftink said of Litterest. "He was on top of his game locating all of his pitches. We ran into a guy today who had things going today."
After two-and-a-half innings of shutout ball by both Litterest and Householder the Warriors took advantage of a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the third to go up 1-0.
Still carrying their one-run lead into the fifth Valle took advantage of a one-out error by Kelly to eventually load the bases.
Though an initial strikeout left Kelly with hope of leaving the inning unscathed, a passed ball brought home the first run of a three-run two-out rally.
Back-to-back hits from Evan Lauer and Lincoln Stoll plated the final runs of the frame as the Warriors pulled away 4-0.
"It was really huge for us to continue to add on to that lead because it helped everybody to take a real deep breath," Valle head coach Judd Naeger said. "We had missed a few chances early on with some things we were doing wrong with our small-ball game. It was good to see us come out and hit."
With Litterest still dealing, Valle went on to add their final run of the contest in the sixth when Alec Greminger hit and inside-the-park home run.
After only allowing a pair of walks after six frames, Litterest's no-hit bid finally came to an end in the top of the seventh when his counterpart, Householder, hit a line drive up the middle.
A single by Matt Proctor gave the Hawks two-straight hits as they loaded the bases with one out. Unfortunately for Kelly, their only run of the contest came on a passed ball as two-straight strikeouts followed it to end the game.
"At that point in time you're not really even thinking about the no hitter," Eftink said. "You just want people on base. We finally got some base runners. I just know I hadn't had anybody visit me at third base the whole game. We finally got somebody over."
While his shutout was snapped Litterest was able to pick up the win with a complete game effort. He surrendered two hits and three walks while fanning 14, including five straight at one point.
"He had a no-no through six," Naeger said. "I didn't even know until about the fifth inning then I went down my card and said I don't see any hits on there yet. That's really huge for him to be able to throw the way he threw today because now we have Alex (Rollhaus) left for Wednesday.
"He was able to beat a very good Cape team the other day. We have things set up the way we like, but we're going to see a really good team on Wednesday."
Leading Valle's eight-hit effort both Justin Roth and Stoll had two hits apiece, including a double by Stoll. Alex Rollhaus had a double with Greminger adding the above-mention home run to the Warriors cause.
For Kelly Householder and Proctor had their respective singles with Proctor also drawing a walk to become the only Hawks to reach base twice in the contest.
"I told the boys they don't have anything to be ashamed of," Eftink said. "They ran into a real good team that was on top of their game today. On the season as a hole you look back and we came a long way and put a good season together."
Kelly 000 000 1 - 1 2 4
Valle 001 031 x - 5 8 0
WP -- Tyler Litterest. LP -- Ian Householder. Multiple hitters: (V) Justin Roth 2-4, Lincoln Stoll 2-3. 2B -- (V) Alex Rollhaus, Stoll. HR -- (V) Alec Greminger.