Round three of the Area 7 district championship featured Sunday a matchup between Alliance and Gering. A big effort by Spartan Carver Nemnich lifted the Seniors past PVC 7 to 4. Nemnich lead the Peltz Co with 3 hits in a battle played in Sidney. With the win, the Spartans go to 37 and 12 on the year and 2 and 1 for the tournament. Alliance closed the affair with 8 knocks. On the hill for the Seniors was Kegan Rodriguez who pitched into the third frame. Lexton Salcido and Braeden Clarke also tossed. Alliance scored 4 times in the first frame and survived a late rally by the Platte Valley Companies.
At the plate first was PVC. Gering went without a score in the opener with the Peltz Co getting a strikeout by Rodriguez and a PVC player getting thrown out on the paths by Alliance catcher Nemnich. The Seniors then grabbed the lead with a 4 spot in the home half. Espen Lanik singled to start the scoring. He later crossed after an RBI knock by Nemnich. A passed ball and an error by Gering then resulted in 3 more tallies by the Spartans. Heading to the second, Alliance was up 4 to 0.
PVC scored once in the second to close their gap to 3. Alliance extended their margin in the bottom of the frame with 2 runs. An rbi swing by Nemnich made it 5 to 1 while a bases loaded walk to Tony Escamilla put the Gering deficit at 5. Frames 3 and 4 were quiet for both squads. Alliance got a third inning knock by Braeden Clarke but no scores. In the top of the frame, the Peltz Co did turn a double play to maintain their advantage. Inning #4 had no scores for Platte Valley while the Spartans got hits by Nason Thompson and Nemnich. Both runners were stranded and the contest went to the fifth with the Seniors up 6 to 1.
Things got tight in the top of the 5th with Gering plating three to reduce their deficit to 2. Alliance came back with one in the bottom of the inning. Clarke singled and crossed after a sacrifice fly by Rodriguez. Down 7 to 4, Gering was turned away in the top of the 6th. Jaxson Esparza doubled for the Peltz Co in the last of the inning but failed to score. In the top of the seventh, Clarke recorded 2 Ks in keeping PVC out of the scoring column. Final. Alliance 7. Gering 4
Platte Valley Co. 0. 1. 0. 0. 3 0. 0. 4
Peltz Co. 4. 2. 0. 0. 1. 0. X 7
Hits for the Spartans. Nemnich 3 Clarke 2. One each. Thompson Esparza and Lanik