Still Alive! Neligh Seniors Advance With Win

After a slow start, the Neligh Senior Legion team got things going and surged past Atkinson, 10-4, Monday in the district tournament at Crofton.

"It was much better," said Neligh mentor Dan Murray. "We showed up to play and we were here the whole game. That made a huge difference. We're looking at the first game tomorrow, see who we play and take it from there. Hopefully we show up with the same intensity we had today."

Atkinson opened the contest with a 1-0 lead in the opening frame

Neligh began to put its offense together in the third inning. A ground out and passed ball allowed Kaleb Pofahl and Andrew Herley to score, respectively, and put Neligh ahead.

Neligh added to its lead in its next at bat with two more runs. Austin Rice ripped a two-run single up the middle to score Jayden Arehart and Conor Ramold.

After scoring a run in the fifth on a Beau Murray RBI double, the Neligh Seniors used a five-run sixth to take clear control of the game. Rice started the scoring with a RBI single to left. An error scored Austin Miller, then Cole Belitz laced a two-run single up the middle and later scored on Tyson Belitz's double to left.

"It should of happened two games ago or last game, but we'll take it now and move with it," coach Murray said on the offensive breakthrough. "I think we're ready to go for tomorrow."

Atkinson tried to keep its season alive with three runs in the sixth, but the hole was too much and Atkinson's year came to an end.

"I thought we played pretty good," Rice said. "We had a lot better fielding, had less errors, went up and swung the bat, had good base hits, got runners on and scored."

After a rough outing last night and a tough start today, Beau Murray calmed himself down and picked up the win on the mound. In the first inning, the starting pitcher gave up a run on two hits. In the next 4 2/3 innings Murray gave up three runs on four hits and struck out six. Pofahl finished game and did not give up a hit, while striking out two in 1 1/3 innings.

"He (Beau Murray) stepped up," coach Murray said. "We still had some errors behind him that we need to clean up and once we clean those up, hopefully by tomorrow, we'll be fine. He threw a really good game and threw a lot of pitches. I'm really happy with him. Kaleb (Pofahl) threw a really good game too. I'm happy with both those guys. Tomorrow we got everyone back, except Beau. We're sitting in pretty good shape right now."

The Neligh offense collected ten runs on nine hits, its best offensive showing in the tournament. Rice led the way with a game-high three runs batted in and two singles. Cole Belitz and Beau Murray each tallied two RBI, Tyson Belitz recorded two hits, two runs batted in and a run scored, Ramold scored twice and Herley scored three times.

"None of us really hit good last night," Rice said. "We didn't have a lot of hits, but today we all stepped up and swung the bat better than usual. We hit the ball, put it in play and let them make the errors. We just scored off it."

Neligh (17-2) plays at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and if they win, Neligh plays Creighton for the district title at 8 p.m. in an if necessary game.

"If we go out, play ball like we can and play like we have all year, we still have a good shot of making it (to state)," Rice said. "I really think that."