BETHANY – Blanchard took control of the Class 4A District 1 race, routing Bethany 13-4 Monday (April 15).
The Lions (18-7, 10-1) pounded out 16 hits and Blanchard senior Kaden Felan struck out 12 Bronchos in the win.
Blanchard sprinted out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning thanks to two walks, a single and a three-run double from junior Jaxon Heard.
Bethany (18-11, 11-2)answered in the bottom half of the inning. Senior Cade Ross walked to lead off the inning and junior Charlie Tolle doubled to right field, setting the stage for a three-run homer from junior Josh Pierce to cut the deficit to one run.
From that point, the Broncho bats largely went silent. Blanchard starter Kaden Felan only allowed three more hits, striking out 12 batters for the complete-game win.
The Lions pelted Tolle for six more runs over the next three innings, including home runs from senior Aiden Kilgore and Heard.
From there, the rout was on. It was 11-3 when Bethany junior Joe Berry sent a ball over the left field wall in the sixth inning.
“We gotta play 100 percent throughout the game,” Bethany coach Brandon Ruiz said. “I mean, we can’t take innings off. We can’t take hitters off. We just gotta compete the whole way.”
Ruiz noted that after the first inning Blanchard’s Felan was “getting a good rhythm” as the Bronchos only put the ball in play six times before Berry’s homer in the sixth inning.
“He has a really good breaking ball. He throws 88-90 miles an hour. When he can live on the outer half of this fastball and then come back with the sharp breaking ball for a strike, he’s tough to beat,” Ruiz said. “He’s their number one (pitcher) for a reason.”
After the game was well in hand for the Lions, Bethany juniors Rylan Eccles and Layton Reither came in to pitch in relief and slowed the scoring.
“(Eccles and Reither) threw really well, kept them on their toes, so yeah, they did a good job,” Ruiz said.
UP NEXT: The Bronchos finish the two-game district series at Blanchard Tuesday. First pitch is at 5 p.m.
Bethany still has an outside chance to win the district title. Assuming Blanchard wins its final two district games against Douglass (the Trojans are 0-11 in district play), the Bronchos would have to beat Blanchard Tuesday by at least 10 runs to win the tiebreaker.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Blanchard | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 16 | 1 |
| Bethany | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
L: Tolle
| BLANCHARD | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
| Carter | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Kilgore | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Howe | 5 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mcintyre | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Pierce | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Madron | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Heard | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Milligan | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Felan | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 36 | 13 | 16 | 13 | 5 | 6 |
HR: Mcintyre, Kilgore, Heard
SB: Fust, Howe
E: Felan
| BLANCHARD | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Felan ( W ) | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
| TOTAL | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
| BETHANY | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
| Ross | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Tolle | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Thomas | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pierce | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Berry | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Finley | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Gilliland | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Cross | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Taber | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| – Reither | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 26 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
HR: Berry, Pierce
SB: Thomas
| BETHANY | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Tolle ( L ) | 4 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 4 |
| Eccles | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Reither | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 7 | 16 | 13 | 13 | 5 | 6 |
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