The old saying “pitching and defense wins championships” was on full display in the finals of the Wayne Invitational Saturday at the Summer Sports Complex.
Blue Devil senior Tori Kniesche fanned 22 batters and got a huge double play in the bottom of the eighth to help Class B No. 6 Wayne outlast Class C No. 1 Arlington 1-0 in the championship game, capping a 4-0 week for last year’s Class C champions.
The Blue Devils advanced to the finals with two easy wins, beating Ord 10-1 and Highway 91 10-0, but needed some key pitching and some outstanding defense late to extend the team’s win streak to 39 games and come away with the tournament victory.
Both teams had chances to put up runs in regulation. Wayne had a chance in the fourth after Aliah Schulz reached on a fielder’s choice and reached third on a Brianna Nissen single before Arlington got out of the inning unscathed. In the bottom of the inning, Arlington used two hits and a fielder’s choice to load the bases with one out, but Kniesche struck out the next two batters to keep the game scoreless.
Wayne had another opportunity in the top of the seventh when Nissen and Hope O’Reilly hit back-to-bacak singles to start the inning, but Arlington was able to get three infield pop-ups to end the rally and send the game into extra innings.
With Kendall Dorey on second to start the eighth-inning tie-breaker, Kayla Fleming advanced her to third with a sacrifice and Kniesche followed by launching a 2-2 pitch to right field for a triple to score Dorey with the game’s only run.
In the bottom of the eighth, Arlington’s runner advanced to third on a wild pitch, and on the next pitch a fly ball was hit to Dorey out in center. She caught the ball and fired a rocket home to O’Reilly, who had plenty of time to secure the ball and make the tag at home for the double play. Kniesche struck out the final batter on three pitches to end the game.
Kniesche tied her Class B state record of 21 strikeouts in seven innings in the final, finishing the game with 22 strikeouts and two hits. Nissen had two of Wayne’s five hits, with Dorey, O’Reilly and Kniesche adding hits.
In the opening-round win over Ord, Wayne broke the game open with four runs in the fourth inning, three coming on a bases-clearing line drive by Dorey that was mishandled by the center fielder.
Brooklyn Kruse closed the scoring with a two-run single in the fifth to give Wayne the easy win.
Dorey threw a one-hitter in the win, striking out eight. Wayne needed just three hits and used four Ord errors to score the easy win. Kruse had two of the three hits and Dorey added a double.
In the semifinals, Wayne needed just four innings to dispatch Highway 91 in a 10-0 decision.
Wayne used six walks, two hit batters and three hits to put up nine runs in the opening frame. Fleming had a three-run double and Dorey and Kniesche both added an RBI single to highlight the big inning.
Kniesche threw a one-hit shutout in the semifinal win, striking out 11 and walking none.
Wayne, 4-0, plays at O’Neill on Tuesday and will be in the Lincoln Public Schools Invitational next Saturday.
In other action at the tournament:
Third Place — Highway 91 7, Centura/Cedar Valley 6
Fifth Place — Twin River 13, Ponca 5
Seventh Place — Ord 13, Pierce 3
