Battle Creek Downs Neligh After Huge Second Inning

After pulling off a miracle comeback to start the tournament, fans hoped that the Neligh Juniors would put on a repeat performance on Saturday. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be.

An 18-9 Battle Creek lead entering the final frame was too much for Neligh to overcome. They were able to add three runs in that final frame, but fell 18-12 to Battle Creek in the second round of the C1 Area Tournament.

Everything started well for Neligh. From the mound, Beau Murray retired the first six BC batters. Unfortunately, things began to unravel in the second when a combination of walks, wild pitches and strong hitting from Battle Creek put seven runs on the board, a feat they quickly duplicated in the fourth with six more off new Neligh pitcher Hunter Charf. In the meantime, Neligh was only able to get five runs of their own from Murray, Austin Rice, Kaleb Pofahl, Conor Ramold and Jayden Arehart. 

Andrew Herley took over for Charf on the mound and weathered a rocky start plus a delay in the sixth when the lights went out to minimize the Battle Creek scoring for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, Neligh was only able to get two runs in the fourth, one in the sixth and the final three in the seventh in the loss.

​Neligh will continue to play to keep their season alive on Sunday when they take on Valentine.