Miracle In Malcolm!; Cats Rally For District Title!

Photo Courtesy: Teresa Weller

Entering the top of the Seventh inning in the C-1 District Championship, the St. Paul/Palmer Cats could've easily folded and called it a season. Instead, what happened in the final inning will be etched in Cats History forever.

Malcolm the number one team in Class C gave the Cats all they could handle and then some leading throughout the game 5-1 before St. Paul tied it in the fifth only to have Malcolm score seven runs in the bottom half to take a 12-5 lead. Both teams split a run in the sixth to make it 13-6.  The seventh was where the magic happened.

The Cats led the inning off with Mason Hoppes notching a double. Jaydn Thomsen then grounded out to the shortstop for the first out of the inning. A hit by pitch to Layne Baker and a walk to Mason Majerus loaded the bases up for Senior Zandyn Weller. Weller worked his way into a full count then blasted one to right center over the fence to spark a little life into the Cats with a Grand Slam to cut the deficit to 13-10.

Christian Lemburg drew a four pitch walk after a pitching change by the Clippers, Braxton Heater followed that up by reaching on an error to the 2nd baseman putting two on and one out for Alex Meinecke. Alex slipped one past the pitcher to load the bases for the Cats.

On the ensuing at-bat Parker Lentz struck out leaving the Cats down to their final out. With the season hanging in the balance, the lineup went back to where the Cats started the inning with Mason Hoppes. Down to his final strike on a 1-2 count Hoppes sent a blooper into Centerfield scoring Lemburg to cut the deficit to two runs at 13-11. 

Thomsen getting a second chance after grounding out for the first out of the inning wasted no time swinging on the first pitch with a bullet past the 3rd baseman scoring Heater and Meinecke to tie the game at 13 all. 

The bottom of the order came up clutch when St. Paul/Palmer needed it most as Baker followed Thomsen up by hitting a duplicate shot into left past third scoring Hoppes and Thomsen in the process giving the Cats a 15-13 lead. A strikeout to Majerus ended the inning but the Orange and Blue had new life. 

Entering the Bottom half of the inning the Cats relied on Sophomore Colby Wood. The Sophomore trying to shake off a rough appearance in the win over Raymond Central was clutch when the Cats needed him to be in relief of Zandyn Weller. Layne Baker recorded the innings first two outs in identical fashion putting the Cats one out away from a District Championship.

On the third pitch of the at-bat, the impossible became possible as the Malcolm Batter popped up in to foul territory on the first base side for Braxton Heater to secure the catch and the comeback for St. Paul/Palmer winning the Miracle In Malcolm 15-13 knocking off the defending 3x state champions.

The win moves St. Paul/Palmer to 10-10 securing the first District Championship in program history. 

State Baseball kicks off Saturday in Omaha for the Cats at Papillion La-Vista. The KRGI Sports Network will have coverage of the Cats from start to finish. We will update opponent, time, and station frequency once the bracket is announced.