Menu
Third time's the charm: Tigers advance to State Tournament
After three straight years of trying, the Tigers are partying like it’s 2018 again. The Nevada Tigers beat the Pleasant Hill Roosters with a final score of 8-0 Wednesday evening in the Class 4 District 12 championship, and are district champions once again.
“Just feeling lots of pride and lots of excitement,” stated Head Coach Danny Penn. “I haven't had time to really collect my thoughts, but I'm just so proud and excited for our program. For the kids that are in our program and the hundreds of hours they've spent working to get better, this just brings everything and everybody together throughout the season. To cap it with a district championship, we’re feeling lots of pride.”
The Tigers started off in the top of the first with their lead off batter No. 1 Drake Ketterman earning a double off of the first pitch, just to be followed by No. 28 Case Sanderson with a hit off to right field to send Ketterman home to score. The game remained at a 1-0 score until the top of the fourth, when Nevada was able to bring in four runs off of five hits to get a comfortable lead.
All in the meanwhile, Sanderson was on top of the mound for the Tigers, and did an extraordinary job of keeping the Roosters from keeping up. In fact, the Roosters only had one hit all night which was in the bottom of the seventh, but Nevada had already had a 8-0 score at that time. Sanderson struck out 11 batters Wednesday evening in Pleasant Hill, earning the last strike out in the bottom of the seventh with two outs (and a questionable strike zone), to secure the ticket for the Tigers to battle for a state championship.
“A lot of things went well,” stated Penn. “We had to be throughout our lineup. It wasn't just the top three or four guys, everybody contributed in some way. Defensively, we're sharp as well. Case (Sanderson) controlled the strikes and like he normally does. Sometimes when you have a pitcher that is striking a bunch of guys out, you kind of get lackluster defensively. But when balls were put in play, we were ready, and made plays behind him. We turned a big double play there toward the end of the game to take away any kind of momentum Pleasant Hill was trying to build. It was just a solid nightall around.”
Sanderson told Nevada Daily Mail, “The emotions are flowing heavy right now. To have all of this success on the field this year and to win this game after two straight years of losing, it’s nice knowing that all of the hard work we put in as a team paid off. It’s a great feeling to win the district championship. I am relieved to win, but I’m not satisfied yet. We’re still going to keep playing ball, and we’re thirsty for more.”
The Tigers will travel to Monett, Mo., to take on a familiar face in the first round of the MSHSAA Class 4 State Tournament, going against the Monett Cubs - a team Nevada beat 14-6 earlier this year. When asked about facing an opponent on the state level, knowing they had already beat them this year, Penn believes it’s still too early to tell. “We played well against them this year, but they are also a district champion. That means that they are coming off of playing a lot of good baseball as well. The last thing we can do is expect to win just by showing up. We've got to continue playing solid baseball, like we did Monday against Knob Noster and then like we did against Pleasant Hill.”