Cougars Are NTC Champs!!
The Cougars completed their undefeated run in their first-ever trip through the National Trail Conference
with a 10-0, five inning victory over the Windsor Blue Devils on Thursday afternoon.
Dan Diss picked up his fifth win of the season as he got the starting nod and pitched four scoreless innings
on 1 hit, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts. Shawn Meyer closed things out with a scoreless inning of his own as he struck
out 3 and walked 1.
Offensively, the Cougars raced out to a quick lead as they scored 3 runs in each of their first two at-bats.
In the first, they used four walks, a hit batsman, a fielder's choice, and two wild pitches to plate their
runs.
Patience paid off again in the second as back-to-back walks started the inning before Dylan Smith got the
first Cougar hit to load the bases.
Heath Hoffmann then singled to score the first run before Noah Powless coaxed yet another walk out of the
Blue Devils pitcher to plate another.
The final run would cross the plate on a botched double play attempt by Windsor off the bat of Kyle Bray.
Single runs in the 3rd and 4th made it 8-0 before the Cougars pushed across the game winners in the 5th.
Again, back-to-back walks started the inning. Dylen Smith then followed with his second single of the
day that scored pinch-runner Jordan Sproat from second.
After an infield pop-up and a ground out to third, Kyle Bray ended the contest with a ringing double into
the right-center gap to invoke the 10-run rule.
Smith was the only Cougar player with two hits in the contest, but six other players contributed
one hit apiece in the short-game affair.
Up next is the NTC Tournament and the Cougars will host a first-round game on Monday at 4:30 against the winner
of a play-in game between Dieterich and Brownstown.
