Norris falls in elimination game

Hickman Norris' American Legion Juniors battled to the end Monday night, but fell in an elimination game at the Area 1 Tournament.

Nebraska City downed Norris, 13-7, at Christenson Field in Beatrice.

With its win, Nebraska City advances to meet Auburn in the tournament's final elimination game tonight (Tuesday) at 5:30 p.m.

The Nebraska City/Auburn winner advances to Wednesday's championship final against Beatrice at 5 p.m. with a second championship game slated for 7:30 p.m., if necessary.

The Area 1 Tournament winner advances to the Class B State Juniors Tournament at Sidney.

Trailing 13-3 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, Norris coach Monte Zysset said his team “had some fun” in its last at-bat.

“We came back a little bit,” Zysset said.

Early in the game, Zysset said Norris “got a few hits” and was able to stay with Nebraska City.

Norris couldn't keep pace with Nebraska City in the sixth and seventh innings, however, as the lead increased to double digits.

Heading into the bottom fo the seventh, Zysset said he just encouraged his players to have fun.

“We wanted them to hold their heads up and make a game out of it as much as we could,” Zysset said.

Norris' players responded by scoring four runs on three hits.

Two of the three hits were by players who came off the bench as pinchhitters.

Zysset said Norris had 18 players on its roster this season after cutting a number of prospects at the beginning of the year.

“It's tough, but we wanted to get everybody some playing time,” Zysset said, “and they responded well.”

Early in the game, the two teams staged a back-and-forth battle.

Four straight walks in the top of the first inning allowed Nebraska City to take a 1-0 lead on Norris.

But in the bottom of the inning, Norris was able to answer.

Chad Johnson walked to lead off the Norris half of the first and stole second.

A walk to Norris' Tim Onwiler put runners at second and first with no outs.

Jared Zysset grounded out to the Nebraska City shortstop, but advanced the runners to third and second.

A groundout by Darin Cheney scored Johnson and tied the game at 1-all.

In the third inning, Nebraska City plated one run to go up 2-1 on a walk and a double.

But again Norris had an answer.

Onwiler was hit by a pitch and took first with one out for Norris. He stole second and third.

Zysset walked and stole second, putting two runners in scoring position.

A single by Cheney scored both Onwiler and Zysset and gave Norris its first lead, 3-2.

Nebraska City regained the advantage in the top of the fourth inning, scoring two runs. The first run scored on a walk, a ground out and a single. Another single and a passed ball allowed the second run to score and gave Nebraska City a 4-3 lead.

In the fifth inning, Nebraska City added one run on a walk, a ground out and a Norris throwing error.

Four runs in the top of the sixth inning allowed Nebraska City to take a six-run lead. All four runs scored without the benefit of a basehit.

Nebraska City added four more runs in the top of the seventh to take a 13-3 lead.

Not willing to give up without a fight, Norris rallied to score four runs in its final at-bat.

Johnson led off with a walk and advanced to third on a single by Onwiler. A single by Chauncy Ziemann scored Johnson and moved Onwiler to third.

Cheney reached on a fielder's choice as Nebraska City failed to record on an out.

Onwiler scored on the fielder's choice and Ziemann moved to second. Both Ziemann and Cheney advanced on a wild pitch.

A double by Taylor TeKolste scored both baserunner and made it a 13-7 game.

Norris finished with five hits in the game, a double by TeKolste and singles by Onwiler, Cheney, Huttes and Ziemann.

Nebraska City had eight hits, including two doubles and six singles.

Blake Price took the loss for Norris, throwing the first 5 1/3 innings. Also seeing action on the mound for Norris were Cheney and Nate Hoover.