Salisbury and Westran will meet for a district title after the top two seeds in Class 2 District 7 won their semifinal games Tuesday.
Salisbury fell behind Linn County/Meadville 4-1 early before coming back for a 6-4 victory. Linn County had five hits over the first two innings.
Salisbury held the Mustangs to one hit over five scoreless innings the rest of the way. Austin Cravens tripled and scored on a Caleb Sturm double in the third. Cravens gave the Panthers the lead in the following inning.
Cravens reached base in all four of his ABs and complemented that by pitching 1 2/3 perfect innings in relief. He was named the Freeman Financial and Insurance Outstanding Player of the Game. Gavin Binder had a single and two sac flies. Gage Clark had two hits.
Jace McAlister gave up all four runs in pitching the first four innings and he struck out nine. After Cravens, Sturm closed out with 1 1/3 perfect innings. Both pitchers struck out two and went under 30 pitches, maintaining their eligibility for the district title game.
In the second game, Cooper Harvey and the Westran Hornets outdueled Ethan Bean and the Fayette Falcons 2-1. Connor Haynes provided the first score in the bottom of the second.
Hampton Summers hit an RBI single in the third. Fayette did not record a hit until the fifth and pushed its run across in the sixth.
Harvey was Player of the Game after giving up one run, three hits, striking out nine and walking just one over his seven innings. He struck out the side in order in the seventh.
Over six innings, Fayette’s Bean allowed two runs, four hits, four walks and he struck out five.
You can hear the Salisbury vs Westran district championship game on NP3 Wednesday with pregame at 4:45.
Salisbury coach Jed Cook Postgame:
Westran coach Tyler Tanner Postgame:
Fayette coach Andy Oeth Postgame:
