The Salem Wildcats overcame an early 2-0 deficit to knock off top-seed Effingham and win their second straight 3a Regional title 8-2 on Saturday afternoon in Salem.
The Hearts jumped out first with a pair of solo homers in the opening inning from Carter Baddy and Colton Webb and that is where the score would stay until the 3rd.
Salem would get a run in on an RBI single from Cody Beard after Cooper Lobek singled and Keaton Gullion was hit by a pitch to put two on base. Lobek would finish the day with 3 hits and scored 3 runs. The Cats would tie the game in the fifth when Lobek again singled and would score on Jalen Inlow’s RBI double. He would score when Cody Beard singled home a run and then Noah Nix hit a long 2-run homer to left field and the Cats plated 5 runs in the fifth to take a 7-2 lead.
Rhett Detering would add a solo homer in the seventh for the final tally. He also was great on the mound and he allowed just 2 hits after the first inning and struck out 8 in the complete game win. Ryan Detering doubled.
It’s the 4th regional title since 2014 for Coach Brian Lipe and the Wildcats and the first time the school has won back-to-back titles.
Salem advances to the Triad Sectional on Wednesday afternoon at 2pm in a game you can hear on Q92 as they take on the Mascoutah Indians. They won their own regional beating Waterloo 7-1.
The other sectional will feature Marion and Triad. Marion scored 7 runs in the sixth inning to help them beat the hosts at Centralia 9-1 on Saturday. Michael Organ hit a solo homer in the sixth inning to account for the Orphans run. Drake Fahringer had 2 hits for the Orphans. Marion will take on Traid after they downed Highland 6-2 at Civic Memorial. They will play at 4:30 following Salem and Mascoutah.
