Vikings top Joseph City for region title, face Ft. Thomas in first round state playoffs
The Williams Vikings baseball team overpowered Joseph City April 24 to win the 1A Central region championship, but fell to top-ranked Bagdad in the regular season finale the next day.
In the de facto regional championship game, the Vikings made quick work of the visiting Wildcats, putting up crooked numbers on offense in each of the first three innings on the way to a 14-1 mercy-rule victory.
Five different Williams batters (Carsten Brinkworth, Zack Perkins, Payce Mortensen, Frankie Kramer, and Michael McNelly) stroked two hits apiece in the game, with Kramer and McNelly also driving in three runs each. Mortensen was the leading run scorer with three, while Zain Grantham led the 12-steal baserunning attack with three bags.
The Vikings got another strong start from Kramer, who needed just 70 pitches to get through the five-inning game and secure the win. He struck out seven Wildcats while limiting them to just a pair of singles on the day. Joseph City’s lone run came with the game already out of reach in the fourth inning, when a leadoff walk came around to score.
The Vikings were hoping to keep their momentum going as they put their nine-game winning streak on the line at undefeated Bagdad April 25, but ultimately lost 6-0.
Williams made some noise in the top of the first against Sultan ace Israel Loveall, with Perkins and John Bryant lacing a pair of line drives to set up a first-and-third situation with two outs. However, Bagdad was able to record an out on Zain Grantham’s hard grounder up the middle to extinguish the threat.
Viking pitcher Joe Zabala, meanwhile, kept the pesky Sultans off the board through two innings, pitching around a pair of errors and stranding three baserunners. The high-wire act came crashing down in the third, though, as Bagdad dropped in four well-placed hits to plate four runs. Their scoring was aided by a Viking throwing error on a potential double-play ball hit to third base.
The Sultans added another pair of runs in the fourth inning, thanks to a pair of Viking errors and a Loveall triple down the line that fell just out of the reach of right fielder Cody Jensen. Zabala then kept Bagdad off the board the rest of the way.
Williams was unable to raise another scoring threat until the seventh, when Grantham and Jensen managed a pair of one-out singles. But Loveall was able to retire the next two Viking hitters to preserve the shutout, and Bagdad’s unblemished regular season.
The final conference rankings and playoff brackets were released April 26, with the 12-5 Vikings moving up to the No. 5 position. They will open the 1A playoff tournament against No. 12 Fort Thomas at 4 p.m. May 4, at the Goodyear Baseball Complex. With a victory, they will move on to the second round at 11 a.m. the following day, at the same location.
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