Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

Article Written By Will Willems (Lebanon Reporter) Coming off a tough week, the Western Boone baseball team was solely focused on getting back to playing baseball the way they were capable of when they faced North Montgomery in Monon Athletic Conference action. And thanks to a strong pitching performance and some timely hitting, the Stars took a step in the right direction with a 6-4 win over the Chargers. "I think tonight is how we are going to play baseball all the time," Western Boone head coach Michael Nance said. "We pitched it really well, we defended it really well and we had timely hits. We moved guys around and I am extremely happy with how we played tonight, not just because we won, but because of the way we executed." After losing four-straight games, Nance said he challenged the team on Monday in practice to put those games behind them and move forward. He said he liked the way team came out focused and ready to go. "Our motto is 'so what?'" Nance said. "Last week was rough, but we've just said 'so what?' and we have to go one game at a time. We want to enjoy this tonight, but get ready to go again tomorrow." Western Boone took a 1-0 lead in the second on an Easton Nance RBI-single, but in the top of the third, the Chargers scored twice with two outs to take the lead. The score remained that way until the fifth, when the Stars' bats came to life. WeBo loaded the bases with no outs, and Layton Yancey lined a single up the middle that was nearly caught by the North Montgomery centerfielder. Kahne Reid scored on the play, but an out was recorded at second after a delayed signal from the umpire in the field led to some confusion on the bases. But rather than let the weird situation throw the for a loop, the Stars' refocused. Levi Stewart hit the next pitch to right for an RBI to put the Stars ahead. After an intentional walk loaded the bases, Jack Mallory hit a 2-run single to right, and Beau Sawyer followed with a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 6-2. "We just decided that we have to put pressure on the other team," Nance said. "We have to be aggressive on the bases, swing the bat a little better and we had four or five guys that hit the ball really well tonight and busted out." The Chargers plated two in the sixth, the last coming on a dropped third strike, but WeBo got out of the jam when Quinn Westerfeld picked off a runner to end the inning. North Montgomery got a one-out walk in the seventh, but with Westerfeld throwing to his final batter because of pitch count, he picked off another runner to end the game. He allowed four runs (two earned) on five hits in seven innings, striking out nine. "He was executing pitches really well, in and out, up and down," Nance said. "His curveball was really good tonight. He didn't miss very spots and they didn't really barrel him up at all." Yancey, Stewart and Easton Nance all had two hits for the Stars, with Nance also drawing a walk. The two teams meet on Wednesday night at North Montgomery.