Fulton vs. Carson City-Crystal – – Baseball District Semifinal – – The Bleacher Denizen – – June 3, 2023 – – by Chuck Krafft

This afternoon, your Bleacher Denizen’s journey takes him to Fowler where the Fulton Pirates will be playing the Eagles from Carson City-Crystal to determine who will play Fowler in the championship game that will follow. Fowler beat Ashley 8-0 in the first game. Alas, the crane needed to get your Bleacher Denizen out of bed arrived late and I was not able to see the first game.

While we wait for this game to start, I hope you will enjoy this Boogie Woogie tune from my You Tube Channel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1MxOus8t44

Fulton will bat first and Carson City-Crystal will be the home team.

Here are the starting lineups:

FULTON PIRATES:

Bryson Sattler c

Parker Duflo ss

Jared Akin p

Parker Billings 3b

Lincoln Beltnick cf

Parker Hungerford 1b

Connor Cunningham lf

Tanner Villalobos 2b

Damien Villarreal dh

Keigan Gregory will play right field, but will not bat.

CARSON CITY CRYSTAL (CCC) EAGLES:

Mason Smith p

Cody Wolever cf

Cade Bolen c

Gavin Reeder 3b

Colby Grover 2b

Cole Smith ss

Landon VanderVlucht 1b

Grayson Ackels lf

Colton Hofstetter dh

Rylee Strawn will play right field, but will not bat.

Carson City-Crystal Pitcher Mason Smith set down the three Fulton hitters in the top of the first inning on a fly to left field, a popup to third base and a popup to the catcher.

In the bottom of the first inning, Fulton Pitcher Jared Akin retired the three CCC hitters on a fly to center field, a strikeout and a groundout to the shortstop.

Eagle Right Fielder Rylee Strawn made a nice running catch of a drive by Parker Billings for the first out of the top of the second inning. Lincoln Beltnick and Parker Hungerford were each hit by a pitch. Eagle Pitcher Mason Smith struck out the next hitter. Lincoln Beltnick advanced to third base and Parker Hungerford to second on a wild pitch. Mason Smith struck out the next batter to keep Fulton off the board for the inning.

Gavin Reeder lined a single up the middle to open the bottom of the second inning for CCC and took second base on a sacrifice bunt by Colby Grover. Pirate Pitcher Jared Akin retired the next two hitters on a strikeout and a foul popup to third base to end the inning.

After two innings, the game was a scoreless tie.

CCC Pitcher Mason Smith struck out the Fulton leadoff hitter in the top of the third inning. Bryson Sattler was hit by a pitch and went to second base when Parker Duflo was safe on an error. When a pickoff attempt was made a first base, Bryson Sattler stole third base as Parker Duflo got back to first base safely. Jared Akin walked to load the bases.

Because CCC Center Fielder Cody Wolever nearly made a great catch, Parker Billings was held to a single on a drive near the center field fence. The runners had to hold until they knew whether the ball would be caught. Parker Billings drove Bryson Sattler and Parker Duflo home as Jared Akin took second base. Jared Akin was out at third base and Lincoln Beltnick safe at first base on a fielder’s choice grounder to the shortstop. Mason Smith retired the next Pirate batter on a grounder to second base to end the inning.

Fulton scored two runs in the top of the third inning to take a 2-0 lead.

Grayson Ackels lined a single up the middle to open the bottom of the third inning for CCC. Jared Akins struck out the next Eagle hitter. Grayson Ackels stole second base and made it to third base on an overthrow. Mason Smith walked and stole second base. Coly Wolever singled up the middle to send Grayson Ackels and Mason Smith home. Jared Akins retired the next two Eagle hitters on a grounder to third base and foul popup to first base to end the inning.

CCC scored two runs in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game at 2-2.

Mason Smith struck out the Fulton leadoff batter to start out the top of the fourth inning. Tanner Villalobos was safe on a bunt single. Eagle Catcher Cade Bolen fired the ball to second base to catch the runner stealing. Damien Villarreal walked and went to second base on a wild pitch. Bryson Sattler walked; he went to second base and Damien Villarreal to third base on a wild pitch. Parker Duflo singled to center field to drive in Damien Villarreal and Bryson Sattler. Mason Smith struck out the next Fulton batter to end the inning.

Fulton scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 4-2 lead.

Pirate Pitcher Jared Akin struck out the CCC leadoff batter in the bottom of the fourth inning. Cole Smith blasted a double to deep left field. Landon VanderVlucht was hit by a pitch. Grayson Ackels walked to load the bases. Cole Smith scored, Landon VanderVlucht took third base and Grayson Ackels took second base on a wild pitch. Jared Akin struck out the next Eagle batter. Pirate Left fielder Connor Cunningham made an fantastic running, sliding catch of a foul ball to end the inning.

CCC scored one run in the bottom of the fourth inning to trim the Fulton lead to 4-3.

Parker Billings pounded a double to deep center field to lead off the top of the fifth inning for Fulton. Mason Smith retired the next three Pirate hitters on a popup to the mound, a foul popup to third base and a fly to right field.

Cody Wolever walked to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning for CCC and took second base on a passed ball. Cade Bolen singled up the middle to push Cody Wolever to third base. Cade Bolen stole second base. Cody Wolever scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by Gavin Reeder. Colby Grover singled to right field and Cade Bolen went to third base. Cole Smith singled to right field to drive Cade Bolen home. Colby Grover went to third base.

After Cole Smith stole second base, Landon VanderVlucht singled to center field to drive in Colby Grover as Cole Smith moved up to third base. Landon VanderVlucht stole second base. Cole Smith scored and Landon VanderVlucht went to third blase on an RBI groundout to shortstop by Grayson Ackels.

Parker Billings took over pitching duties for Fulton and Jared Akins went to third base.

Parker Billings struck out the next Eagle batter to end the inning.

Carson City-Crystal scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 7-4 lead.

Mason Smith retired the Pirate leadoff batter in the top of the sixth inning on a groundout to third base. Damien Villarreal was hit by a pitch. Keigan Gregory came in to pinch run for Damien Villarreal. Bryson Sattler belted a double to deep (and I mean DEEP) center field and Keigan Gregory scored all the way from first base. Mason Smith retired the next Fulton batter on a fly to left field. Jared Akin singled to left field to drive Bryson Sattler home. Jared Akin took second base on the throw home.

The game was at a tipping point. Fulton had a runner on second base with two out with Parker Billings coming up, who already had hit a single and a double deep into the outfield and driven home two runs. Gavin Reeder came in to pitch for CCC. Colby Grover went to third base, Cody Smith to second base and Mason Smith to shortstop.

CCC Right Fielder Rylee Strawn went way, way back into right field to catch a fly ball blasted off the bat of Parker Billings to end the top of the sixth inning.

Fulton scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning to cut the CCC lead to 7-6.

Mason Smith opened the bottom of the sixth inning for CCC with a single off the third baseman’s glove. Mason Smith stole second base and took third base on an overthrow. Parker Billings struck out the next Eagle batter. Mason Smith came in to score on a wild pitch. CCC made its next out on a fly to right field.

Despite a great diving effort by Pirate Right Fielder Keigan Gregory, Gavin Reeder doubled to right field. Parker Billings struck out the next batter to end the inning.

Carson City-Crystal scored an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Eagles an 8-6 lead.

Gavin Reeder retired the three Pirate hitters in the top of the seventh inning on a fly to right where Rylee Strawn made a fine running catch followed by two strikeouts.

CCC won the game 8-6 and will play Fowler in the District Final game.

Parker Billings had a single, a double and two RBI for Fulton. Bryson Sattler had a double and one RBI. Parker Duflo had a single and two RBI. Jared Akin had a single and one RBI. Tanner Villalobos had a single.

Jared Akins pitched four and two thirds innings for Fulton. He struck out five batters. Parker Billings pitched one and one third innings and struck out three batters.

Cole Smith had a double, a single and one RBI for Carson City-Crystal. Gavin Reeder had a double. Cody Wolever had a single and two RBI. Landon VanderVlucht and Grayson Ackels each had a single and one RBI. Mason Smith, Cade Bolen and Colby Grover each had one single.

Mason Smith pitched five and two thirds innings for CCC. He struck out five hitters. Gavin Reeder pitched one and one third innings for CCC. He struck out three batters while retiring all four batters that he faced.

Here is a link to the District Final game between Fowler and Carson City-Crystal. https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2023/06/04/carson-city-crystal-vs-fowler-mhsaa-baseball-district-final-the-bleacher-denizen-june-3-2023-by-chuck-krafft/