Neligh Wins First-Round Thriller At Area Tournament

The fireworks didn't stop in Neligh on the Fourth of July. They continued all the way until Friday at the C1 Area Tournament game between the Neligh Juniors and Pierce.

Both teams battled all night, with defense leading the way for much of the night. Neligh scored twice in the first five innings - a run by Kaleb Pofahl on a Cole Belitz RBI single and a run from Hunter Charf on a Jayden Arehart single - while Pierce was held scoreless for the first three innings. 

In the fourth, Pierce brought in four runners, sending the game into the fifth with a 4-2 difference. Neither team did much in the fifth, but in the top of the sixth, Pierce again pounced, extending their lead to 7-2. However, Neligh countered right back with a flurry of runs of their own. Hunter Reestman got the inning started with a single. Two batters later, Austin Rice got on base with a single of his own before Jayden Arehart belted out an RBI double to bring around Reestman. Rice and Arehart both scored just a few pitches later when Pofahl launched a deep single to right field to score both. Conor Ramold kept it rolling wth another single on the very next batter before Beau Murray was able to bring in Pofahl with another single to right. On the very next batter, Belitz came up clutch with an RBI single to left to score Ramold and knot the game up at seven.

That set up an exciting seventh inning. Neligh did what they needed to defensively, sitting down the Pierce batters 1-2-3. In the bottom of the frame, Rice got Neligh going quick when an error by the first baseman put him on base. Jayden Arehart drew a walk on the very next at bat, giving Neligh two potential game-winning runs. However, they would only need one as Pofahl came through as the hero just three pitches later when he ripped a hard grounder to second, allowing Rice to slide into home to beat the tag and giving Neligh an 8-7 win.

Neligh now turns their sights to a showdown with Battle Creek in the second round on Saturday.