Published: May 06, 2008 12:22 pm            

T-town wins third straight NTC tourney title

NEOGA — When you're facing tough competition, sometimes one bad inning is one more that you can afford.

After Monday's National Trail Conference tournament championship game at Neoga, Effingham St. Anthony High School's softball team can surely attest to that.

Teutopolis sent eight batters to the plate in the top of the third, scoring three times off St. Anthony starter Kristen Winkler in what ended up being the deciding frame of a 4-1 victory over the Bulldogs and the Wooden Shoes' third consecutive NTC tourney title.

"Take away that one inning, and you've got yourself a good game," said St. Anthony coach David Schuette. "T-town played great and we struggled at the plate today."

Kristin Runde held St. Anthony to six hits and a single run in the fifth straight meeting between the two schools for the NTC crown, earning the win before Maria Dust came on for a perfect seventh and the save.

"Kristin did just like she's done all year," said T-town skipper Rich Niebrugge. "She just comes out and gets the job done. She had her difficulties at the plate today, but she didn't let that affect her performance on the mound.

"That's the sign of a great athlete."

St. Anthony got its lone run off Runde in the fourth when Winkler led off with a bounding single through third before being bunted down to second by Mary Jo Bushur.

Heather Esker brought her home with an RBI single over shortstop and Taylor Behl singled to put runners on first and second with still only one down, but the rally fizzled as quickly as it started when Andi Schuette's jam-shot to third was pulled out of the air by Sarah Wendt and fired down to second to double off pinch runner Lieren Schuette.

After that, the Bulldogs managed only three more baserunners. All three reached with two out and no hint of a score ever materialized from any of them.

"I thought overall we played well today, but we have some improvement we need to make," said Schuette. "We need to improve at the plate, and we can't allow runners to constantly take that extra base on balls hit to the outfield."

T-town also stole five bases, leading to 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Even though the Shoes only converted on two of those opportunities, it was enough.

Niebrugge's club went up 1-0 in the second when Sammy Kroeger led off with a double and came home on Becky Niebrugge's single over a drawn-in infield.

Nicole Runde got the third-inning rally going by scalding a one-out liner off the glove of Bushur at third. Bushur had no time to react and couldn't collect the carom quickly enough to make a play at first.

After Runde stole second, Kroeger singled her home and advanced to second on the throw home. Bailey Kroeger moved her to third on a groundout to short, and she scored on a wild pitch before Niebrugge reached on an error to keep things going.

Kasey Hoelscher followed with a run-scoring hit to center, a sinking liner that skipped under center fielder Nikki Gray's glove as she tried to play the shorthop. Wendt then drew a walk, but K. Runde went down looking to end the damage.

"The top three in our lineup didn't score a run today," said Niebrugge. "The middle and bottom stepped up and got the runs across for us today. It was a good team victory."

Dust was strong in earning the save, her first action since the Shoes did battle with Newton on April 15. The senior has battled some muscle soreness in her right throwing wrist but showed no signs of it Monday.

"We're in our last week of the season and it's nice to see the girls playing well at this time of year," said Niebrugge. "My hat is also off to St. Anthony as always. They're a good club and anytime we get together it's a good game."

T-town beat St. Anthony in last year's title game 8-1 and won the 2006 championship matchup 5-1.

In 2005, St. Anthony was a 2-0 victor over the Shoes and also won the tourney crown over T-town 3-0 in 2004, Schuette's first year at the helm.

It has certainly been an impressive run for Niebrugge and his Wooden Shoe program, which also hit the 30-win plateau against St. Anthony Monday. That's a 30-2 record heading into today's home game with Effingham and next week's Class 2A regionals.

"I've been blessed here at T-town to have such a great group of athletes to work with year in and year out," said the Teutopolis coach. "We have a great community and always have great support from the fans and parents."

St. Anthony falls to 15-11, but doesn't have any time to dwell on a third straight NTC title game disappointment.

"I told the girls this game is over and its time to move on," said Schuette. "We struggled for one inning tonight, but didn't play badly. We just have to shake this off and be ready for the City Series Wednesday and then regionals after that."

At Beecher City

Altamont High School took third place in the NTC tourney, traveling to Beecher City/Cowden-Herrick and beating the tournament's No. 2 seed by a 9-2 final.

Kelsey Hankins allowed just six hits and a pair of fourth-inning runs while Krystal Cornwell was 4-for-4 with a double, triple and two RBIs.

Shannon Berg and Alyssa Mehl also contributed RBI hits while Brittney Laue was 3-for-4 with a double.

BCCH, meanwhile, fell to 19-7 as Hillary Shelton suffered just her third pitching loss against 10 victories this spring.

Altamont scored once in the top of the first and three more times in the third before blowing up for five in the fifth to put it out of reach.

Randi Lilly had two hits for the Eagles while Brittany Zacha drove in a run.

Dustin White can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 123 or dustin.white@effinghamdailynews.com.

National Trail Conference Tournament

Championship Game

At Jennings Park, Neoga

TEUTOPOLIS
-------------------ab---r---h---bi
K. Runde p-------3---0---0---0
Heuerman c-----4---0---0---0
M. Dust rf--------4---0---1---0
N. Runde 2b-----4---1---2---0
S. Kroeger cf----3---2---2---1
B. Kroeger dh---4---0---1---0
Williams 1b-----0---0---0---0
Niebrugge lf----4---1---1---1
Hoelscher ss----3---0---1---0
Pruemer lf------0---0---0---0
Wendt 3b-------2---0---0---0
TOTALS---------31---4---8---2

ST. ANTHONY
------------------ab---r---h---bi
Kabbes ss--------4---0---1---0
Murphy c---------2---0---0---0
Winkler p---------3---0---1---0
McHugh cr-------0---1---0---0
M. Bushur 3b-----2---0---0---0
He. Esker 1b------3---0---2---1
L. Schuette pr----0---0---0---0
McHugh ss--------0---0---0---0
Behl lf-------------3---0---2---0
A. Schuette 2b---3---0---0---0
Gray cf-------------3---0---0---0
Ha. Esker rf------3---0---0---0
TOTALS---------26---1---6---1

Teutopolis----013---000---0--------4
St. Anthony---000---100---0--------1

E — Wendt, Kabbes, M. Bushur, A. Schuette 2. LOB — Teutopolis 11, St. Anthony 6. DP — Teutopolis. 2B — S. Kroeger. SB — N. Runde 2, S. Kroeger, Niebruge, Wendt. SAC — Wendt, Murphy, M. Buhsur.

PITCHING SUMMARY
-----------------IP---H--R--ER--BB--SO
Teutopolis
K. Runde (W)---6---6---1---1---0---4
M. Dust (S)-----1---0---0---0---0---0
St. Anthony
Winkler (L)-----7---8---4---2---4---5
WP — Winkler 2. T — 1:33. U — Fritscher (HP), Wright (B).

------------------------

Third Place Game

At Beecher City

Altamont-----103---050---0--------9
BCCH---------000---200---0--------2
Hankins and Holland; Hi. Shelton and Ohnesorge
Altamont — Flexter, single; Cornwell, 2 singles, double, triple, 2 RBIs; Berg, single, double, RBI; Laue, 2 singles, double; Parker, double; Mehl, single, RBI