Tigers edge Nodaway Valley, 4-3

LENOX — Kiegan Kitzman hit a bases-loaded, two-out double in the third inning to give Lenox the early lead and the Tigers held on to defeat Nodaway Valley, 4-3, in the Class 1A District 13 semifinals Tuesday night.

After Kitzman’s three-run hit in the third, Lenox added a fourth run in the fourth inning as Connor Fitzgerald walked and advanced on a wild pitch and passed ball before scooting home on an infield error.

“Kitzman has been that way for us all year,” said Lenox head coach Trevor Luther. “He’s been a spark plug for us.”

Nodaway Valley, which tied Lenox for fourth place in the Pride of Iowa Conference at 8-5 during the regular season, responded with three runs in the fifth inning to turn a 4-0 cushion into a 4-3 nail-biter the rest of the way.

Mason Menefee, Caelen DeVault and Boston DeVault had successive hits with two outs for the Wolverines in the first inning that Lenox starting pitcher Keegan Christensen was unable to work out of trouble.

Pitchers settle in

Pitchers from both teams settled in to squash any more offensive outbreaks. Nodaway Valley’s Caelen DeVault struck out seven batters in three innings of relief to run his season total of strikeouts to 84. Lenox’s Christensen allowed eight hits on three strikeouts and no walks in gaining the win with six innings of work. Samson Adams set the Wolverines down in order in the seventh with a pair of strikeouts to earn the save.

“They would get guys on base but we got out of a few high pressure situations,” Luther said. “Keegan just throws out for us. Our defense is extremely confident when he’s on the mound. We knew we didn’t want him to face their hitters four times, though, so I had the plan to bring in Samson to finish.”

Because of Christensen’s efficient pitch count — he required only four pitches to get through the first inning — Christensen can come back in a starting role Saturday against CAM at Anita in the district finals. CAM routed Bedford Tuesday, 10-0.

Evan Forcht started on the mound for Nodaway Valley (16-9), giving up three runs on three hits in three innings with five strikeouts, one walk and three hit batters. Boston DeVault pitched two two batters in relief before Caelen DeVault finished the final three shutout innings with just one hit allowed, one walk and seven strikeouts.

Caelen DeVault had pitched two complete games against Lenox during the regular season, winning a 5-1 game in the first week of the season before losing a 4-1 decision two weeks ago in Greenfield.

“They had seen Caelen twice already and Evan has been pretty solid for us, too, so we thought we’d change it up on them,” Nodaway Valley coach Dan Jameson said. “We were able to get out of some situations with runners on, but the one time you don’t get out of the jam can cost you.”

Lenox’s defense made no errors in seven innings as Christensen scattered eight hits allowed.

Hitting leaders

Kitzman finished 2-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs. Brad Larson also had two hits and a run scored. Lenox left 10 runners on base, going down on strikeouts 13 times in six innings.

Boston DeVault was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a double for Nodaway Valley. Toby Bower smacked a double to deep left field in the inning but was left on base as Christensen gained three straight outs.

Graduating seniors in their final game for the Wolverines are Mason Mather, Michael Britten, Menefee, Bower and Forcht.

Lenox improves to 21-11 in moving on to the district finals against No. 9-ranked CAM (24-6). The Cougars feature a power hitting lineup led by Lane Spieker with 11 home runs this season and Colby Rich with nine homers and 59 RBIs.

Elsewhere in Class 1A Substate 7, St. Albert will host Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton in the District 14 finals. The two district winners meet on July 20 for a state tournament berth.

District baseball scores

Lenox 4, Nodaway Valley 3

CAM 10, Bedford 0

Mount Ayr 9, Lamoni 1

Martensdale-St. Marys 10, Southeast Warren 0

Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 11, Sidney 1

Underwood 6, Shenandoah 2

Clarinda 6, Treynor 1

St. Albert 13, Riverside 2

Softball regional finals

Winterset 10, Harlan 0

ADM 4, Bondurant-Farrar 3

North Polk 5, Dallas Center-Grimes 2