NV turns the lights out on Blue Devils

Not even a 50-minute delay because the lights wouldn’t come on at Panther Field could stop Nodaway Valley from securing its first trip to the State Baseball Tournament.

Wolverine senior Jackson Lamb finally found his groove on the mound and shut down ninth-ranked Martensdale-St. Marys in the final two innings after the delay, as Nodaway Valley beat its Pride of Iowa Conference rival 9-6 in the Class 1A Substate 7 final.

Nodaway Valley led 9-6 in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Martensdale-St. Marys loaded the bases with one out.

Lamb induced a ground ball to second baseman Corbin Bond, who made the throw home for a force out and then Lamb got Trevor Dooley, who had already doubled twice in the game, to fly out to right field to end the inning.

That’s when play was halted for 50 minutes, as the lights failed to turn on at Panther Field. An electrician had to be called to come resolve the issue.

Nodaway Valley head coach Dan Jameson said the thought never crossed his mind to replace Lamb on the hill after the delay.

“We knew we had to stick with Jackie. We had some other options, but we knew Jackson would get back into it,” he said. “I think that delay benefited him. He was able to settle down a little bit and was able to come out and make it happen.”

Getting out of the bases-loaded jam was crucial, Lamb said. The Blue Devils had to stew over the missed opportunity throughout the entire delay.

“I think it was huge when we stopped them with the bases loaded and got that out without them scoring,” Lamb said. “Then they really had to sit on that three-run deficit. That was huge.”

Lamb worked a three up, three down inning in the sixth and allowed the tying run to come to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning, but caught No. 9-hitter Cole Cassady looking for strike three to send Nodaway Valley to its first state tournament.

Timely hits

After Martensdale-St. Marys struck in the first inning for one run, Nodaway Valley answered right back.

Eighth-grader Tyler Vandewater reached base on a throwing error in the second inning and stole second base. He scored on a double to center field by freshman Spencer Thompson, tying the game.

Scoring the runs, we had a good approach against their pitcher,” Jameson said. “Spencer Thompson got a great hit for us early, got us going early on.”

The Wolverines took command in the top of the third inning. After Lamb was hit by a pitch with two outs and Sam Marnin singled, Ryan Jensen plated Lamb with an RBI single.

Vandewater followed with a bloop single into shallow right field that scored both Marnin and Jensen, who had stolen second base.

The Blue Devils answered with two runs in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to 4-3, but Nodaway Valley again had an answer.

Spencer Lamb drew a one-out walk and Joe Herr hit a two-out single to left field. Jackson Lamb brought both runners home with his single down the third base line. Marnin drove home Lamb with another single down the third base line.

Jensen singled and an error allowed both he and Marnin to advance a base. Vandewater brought home two more runs with a single that hopped past the shortstop.

“He’s just one of those hard-nosed guys that loves the game,” Jameson said about Vandewater, who drove in four runs. “He works hard and put the ball in play when we needed it.”

“Tyler Vandewater, a little eighth-grader, he didn’t play like one today,” Jackson Lamb said. “He played just like we know he can play. He stuck to his fundamentals, stuck to his swing, didn’t try to do too much with the ball and he did amazing.”

Nodaway Valley chased both of Martensdale-St. Marys’ aces out of the game. Bret Barnett entered with 91 strikeouts in 47 2/3 innings and a 1.47 earned run average, while Kolton Fisk entered with an 0.89 ERA. The Wolverines tagged Barnett for four runs and Fisk for five.

Eight of Nodaway Valley’s nine runs came with two outs.

“Two outs, two strikes. We would get up and then just couldn’t finish them off. They did an excellent job of executing when they needed to,” Martensdale-St. Marys head coach Jon Fitzpatrick said.

First trip

With the win, Nodaway Valley (19-10) advances to its first ever State Baseball Tournament. The Wolverines draw top-ranked Mason City Newman Catholic (32-5) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Principal Park in Des Moines.

“It’s just great. It’s like I said to them in the huddle there, I’m just proud of them for all the extra work they’ve put in, sticking with it and never giving up,” Jameson said. “I’m glad it paid off for them this year.”

Lamb said he couldn’t describe the feeling of being part of the first state-qualifying baseball team in Nodaway Valley history.

“No words can really describe it. If you could come up with a word, it’d be better than amazing. I don’t even know,” he said. “It kind of caps off what kind of an impact we’ve made here as seniors. You can’t end it better than Principal Park. First time for Nodaway Valley is crazy. I’m just happy to be part of the team.”

Nodaway Valley 9, Martensdale-St. Marys 6

R H E

NV 013 500 0 — 9 12 2

MSM 102 300 0 — 6 9 5

NV: Brandon Mangles 0K 2BB 1HBP, Jackson Lamb (3) 6K 3BB 1HBP and Joe Herr. MSM: Bret Barnett 5K 1BB 1HBP, Kolton Fisk (4) 3K 0BB, Brady Gavin 2K 0BB and Noah Catron . W — Lamb. L— Barnett. HR — none. 3B — none. 2B — NV: Spencer Thompson 1. MSM: Trevor Dooley 2, Grant Crowell 1. RBI — NV: Tyler Vandewater 4, Jackson Lamb 2, Sam Marnin 1, Ryan Jensen 1, Thompson 1. MSM: Barnett 2, Catron 2, Dooley 1, Gavin 1. Multiple hitters — NV: Jensen 3, Herr 2, Marnin 2, Vandewater 2. MSM: Dooley 2, Catron 2.