The Wayne Dirt Devils 14-under team kicked off the 2018 spring season at the Tekamah Tournament, going 4-1 on the weekend.
Wayne opened pool play with three wins on Saturday, defeating Clarkson/Highway 91 9-5, Millard Rebelz 6-3 and Louisville 7-4.
In the first game against Clarkson/Highway 91, Wayne jumped on the opponent early and broke the game open with a six-run second inning to claim the win.
Kendall Dorey’s RBI triple highlighted the three-run first inning, and Amara Hurlbert cleared the bases with a triple to key the big six-run second inning.
Hurlbert had two hits and drove in three to lead the Wayne offense. Dorey and Brooklyn Kruse both had RBI’s and Virginia Kniesche, Taytum Sweetland and Chloe Klug each scored twice. Dorey struck out 13 and allowed two hits and two walks in the win.
In the win over the Rebelz, Wayne scored three in the first and three more in the third to take control and go on to the win.
Dorey had an RBI double and Hurlbert added an RBI single to key the three-run first, while Kruse had a two-run single to cap the three-run third inning.
Kniesche and Aliah Schulz each scored twice in the win. All of the Rebelz’ outs came via the strikeout as Dorey fanned 15 and gave up two hits and three walks.
In their final pool play game, Wayne scored five in the first on their way to the win over Louisville to finish 3-0 in their pool.
After Louisville scored two in the top of the inning, Wayne answered with five to take the lead for good. Sweetland drove in two with a single and a hit batter and walk with the bases loaded brought two more home to cap the big inning.
Hope O’Reily had an RBI double as one of Wayne’s three hits, while Dorey and Sweetland each drove in two. Hurlbert got the win in the circle, striking out four and allowing seven hits.
Wayne went 1-1 in bracket play on Sunday, posting their second win over Clarkson/Highway 91 (10-4) before losing to the Omaha Shock in the semifinals, 6-2.
In the first game, Wayne did all of their damage early, scoring four in the first and three in the second and third innings.
Two of Wayne’s four runs in the first came home on an error, while a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly brought the other runs in. O’Reilly had a two-run triple to key the three-run second, and Brianna Nissen’s RBI single highlighted the third-inning effort.
O’Reilly had two hits and two RBI’s to lead a five-hit attack. Kniesche and Sweetland both scored twice. Hurlbert got the win, striking out four and allowing four hits.
In the semifinals, it was the Shock who struck first, building a 4-0 lead after three innings that the Dirt Devils could not recover from.
Wayne got both of its runs in the fourth on a two-run single by Nissen, scoring Hurlbert and Madyson Sievers. Hurlbert took the pitching loss for the 4-1 Dirt Devils 14-under team.
Next action for the 14-under Devils is Thursday, May 24, with a 6:30 p.m. home doubleheader against Tri State Pride.
