The opening round of the area 7 District baseball tournament started Friday with 6 teams taking part. Alliance started play with an 8 to 4 victory over Chadron. In a ball game played in Gering, the Senior Spartans scored in five of the seven innings to go on for the W. The Peltz Co finished with 11 hits on the day. Getting 2 hits each were: Jaxson Martinez, Tony Escamilla, and Espen Lanik. Starter Kaden Ferguson went 4 innings, allowed 2 hits while striking out 4 Platte Valley hitters. Relief pitcher Braeden Clarke tossed the final three innings.
Lanik and Clarke led the contest off with back to back singles in the top of the first. A wild pitch by Chadron scored Lanik as the Senior Spartans grabbed an early 1 to 0 lead. Ferguson was sharp in the bottom of the inning, shutting out PV Bank while recording a strikeout. The Peltz Co increased their margin in the second. Alliance tallied 3 more runs to surge ahead by 4. Kobe Strom began the scoring, reaching after getting hit by a Chadron pitch. A walk to Martinez followed while the bases became full after Alliance’s Cody Galles was hit by another toss by PV Bank. Next up was Spartan EJ Garcia who singled scoring 2 more Peltz Co runs. The scoring ended with a sac fly by Escamilla that made the score 4 to 0 in favor of Alliance. Ferguson kept the score there with a scoreless frame in the bottom of the second.
The third inning saw the Spartans get a single by Martinez but no runs. Chadron put together their best inning of the game in the bottom of the third. Post 12 scored 2 runs on 2 hits and 2 errors by Alliance to pull within 2 at 4 to 2. Escamilla would double for the Spartans in the fourth but was left on the base paths. Two more Ks by Ferguson denied any more Chadron runs in the bottom of inning 4 and the contest went to the fifth with Alliance still out in front 4 to 2. The Spartans tacked on a score in the top of the fifth. Strom reached again after getting hit by a Chadron pitch and would score on an RBI single by Martinez.
Things then got tight in the bottom of the fifth as the Platte Valley Bank scored 2 runs. Using a walk, a single, an Alliance error, and a sacrifice fly, Chadron closed their gap to 5 to 4.
Alliance answered back with 2 runs of their own in the top of the sixth. Singles by Spartans Creighton Fritzler, Escamilla and Ferguson loaded the bases for Nason Thompson whose double plated 2 more Alliance runs. Relief pitcher Clarke denied Chadron any runs in their attempt in the sixth and the game went to the seventh and final inning with Alliance leading 7 to 4.
The Peltz Co added to their advantage in the top of the seventh. Garcia reached on a Chadron error and scored on an RBI double by Lanik. PV Bank went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh as Alliance went on for the 8 to 4 win.
ALL 1 3 0 0 1 2 1 8
CHAD 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 4
11 hits for Alliance 2 apiece Martinez, Escamilla, Lanik, 1 hit each Clarke, Fritzler, Ferguson, Thompson, Garcia.