Portland St. Patrick vs. Fulton – – Baseball District Final – – The Bleacher Denizen – – May 31, 2024 – – by Chuck Krafft

It is now time for the District Final between the Fulton Pirates, who rallied in the sixth inning to beat Carson City-Crystal in their semifinal and the Shamrocks from Portland St. Patrick, who beat Fowler in this District Semifinal game to advance here.
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Your Bleacher Denizen thanks the Fulton Staff for providing a portable chair and allowing him to sit in the shaded area where Fulton High Junior Dakota Malek is announcing the game. He has a lot of confidence in what he does and is not at all shy on the microphone. I hope he pursues this at least a bit; I think he has a flair for announcing!

The teams flipped a coin to determine who is home and who is away; Fulton won and will be the home team. St. Patrick will bat first. (Actually it’s the baseball team that will bat; I don’t know if the Saint himself will get into the game or not.)

Here are the starting lineups.

ST. PATRICK

Lucas Simon cf

Jerryd Scheurer p

Charlie Thelen c

Brady Leonard 3b

Brayden Simon ss

Simon White dh

Nathan Fears 2b

Devin Cook rf

Riley Mosser lf

Tyler Groothuis will play first base, but will not bat.

FULTON

Bryson Sattler c

Parker Duflo ss

Parker Billings p

Jared Akin 1b

Lincoln Beltnick 3b

Parker Hungerford lf

Connor Cunningham cf

Tanner Villalobos 2b

Trevor Brown rf

Let’s take a look at the events of this game through the somewhat open eyes of an aging Bleacher Denizen whose baseball career never really got off the ground. As soon as the baseball powers that be forced me to stop using a catapult to make my throws from the outfield, my defense declined quite a bit. The Coach suggested I might like to join a competitive tiddlywinks league as an alternative.

Fulton Pitcher Parker Billings retired the three Shamrock hitters in the top of the first inning on a strikeout, a grounder to second base and another strikeout.

Bryson Sattler singled up the middle to lead off the top of the first inning for Fulton. Bryson Sattler was out at second base and Parker Duflo safe at first base on a fielder’s choice grounder to the shortstop. Parker Billings grounded a single to right field and Parker Duflo advanced to second base. Wyatt King entered the game as a courtesy runner for Parker Billings.

Jared Akin singled to right field to drive Parker Duflo home as Wyatt King went to second base. Lincoln Beltnick singled to move Wyatt King to third base and Jared Akin to second base. St. Patrick Second Baseman Nathan Fears ranged back into center field to catch a sacrifice fly off the bat of Parker Hungerford; the other runners held at second base and first base. St. Patrick Pitcher Jerryd Scheurer retired the next Pirate hitter on a groundout to third base to end the inning.

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

Parker Billings retired the three Shamrock hitters in the top of the second inning on a fly to center field and two strikeouts.

Jerryd Scheurer retired the three Pirate hitters in the bottom of the second inning on a strikeout, a grounder to first base and a fly to deep left field caught by Riley Mosser.

Nathan Fears walked to lead off the top of the third inning for St. Patrick. He stole second base and third base. Parker Billings retired the next Shamrock hitter on a grounder to third base; the runner held. Parker Billings made a nice catch of a popup behind the mound with his back to home plate. Lucas Simon beat out an infield single and drove Nathan Fears home. Lucas Simon stole second base. St. Patrick made its final out of the inning on a grounder to first base.

St. Patrick scored one run in the top of the third inning to trim the Fulton lead to 2-1.

Jerryd Scheurer struck out Fulton’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the third inning. Parker Billings pounded a double off the left field fence. Wyatt King game into the game as a courtesy runner for parer Billings. Jared Akin walked. Wyatt King went to third base and Jared Akin to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Lincoln Beltnick. Fulton made its third out of the inning on a bouncer to the pitcher.

Charlie Thelen lined a single to right field to lead off the top of the fourth inning for St. Patrick. T.J. Chamberlain entered the game as a courtesy runner for Charlie Thelen and took second base on a sacrifice bunt by Brady Leonard. After Parker Billings struck out the next Shamrock hitter, T.J. Chamberlain stole third base. Parker Billings struck out the next batter to end the inning.

Brady Leonard made a fine catch of a foul fly ball to third base to retire Fulton’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the fourth inning. Jerryd Scheurer retired the next two batters on a bunt to the pitcher and a strikeout.

Parker Billings struck out the first two Shamrock hitters in the top of the fifth inning and got the third out on a popup to third base.

Bryson Sattler beat out an infield single to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning for Fulton. Shamrock Second Baseman Nathan Fears went back into right field to catch a fly for Fulton’s first out. Parker Billins walked and Bryson Sattler moved to second base.

Brayden Simon came in to pitch for St. Patrick. (Jerryd Scheurer had pitched the last two innings of St. Patrick’s semifinal win over Fulton and was probably at his pitch limit.) Brayden Simon struck out the next two Pirate hitters to end the inning.

Parker Billings retired the first two Shamrock hitters in the top of the sixth inning on a fly to second base and a strikeout. Charlie Thelen pounded a triple to deep center-left field. T.J. Chamberlain came in to run for Charlie Thelen. Brady Leonard lined a single up the middle to drive T.J. Chamberlain home. Parker Billings retired the next hitter on a popup to the shortstop to end the inning.

St. Patrick scored one run in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game at 2-2.

Brayden Simon struck out the first Fulton batter in the bottom of the sixth inning. Connor Cunningham drew a walk. Brayden Simon struck out the next two Pirate hitters to end the inning.

Simon White singled to left field to lead off the top of the seventh inning for St. Patrick. Parker Billings retired the next two batters on bunted flies to the pitcher and third base. He struck out the next batter to end the inning leaving the runner stranded at first base.

Sean Fedewa went in to pitch for St. Patrick. (I believe Brayden Simon is dealing with an arm injury and has a strict pitch limit.) Brayden Simon moved to third base, Brady Leonard moved to right field and Tyler Thelen went in to play left field after pinch hitting in the sixth inning.

Bryson Sattler singled to center field to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning for Fulton. He went to second base on a groundout to second base by Parker Duflo. Parker Billings was intentionally walked and Wyatt King went in to run for him. Jared Akin singled to drive in Bryson Sattler with the winning run.

Fulton won 3-2 and will play the winner of the Potterville District next week in a Regional Semifinal.

Charlie Thelen had a triple and a single for St. Patrick. Lucas Simon and Brady Leonard each had a single and one RBI. Simon White had a single.

Jerryd Scheurer pitched four and one third innings for St. Patrick. He gave up two runs and six hits while striking out three batters. Brayden Simon pitched one and two thirds dominating innings. He walked one man and struck out each of the five batters who made outs. Sean Fedewa pitched one third of an inning. He gave up one run and two hits.

Bryson Sattler had three singles for Fulton. Parker Billings had a single and a double. Jared Akin had two singles and two RBI. Lincoln Beltnick had one single. Parker Hungerford had one RBI.

Parker Billings pitched an excellent complete game for the Pirates. He gave up two runs, scattered four hits and struck out ten batters.