MONTAGUE — Montague's pitching propelled the Wildcats to a sweep of rival Whitehall Tuesday, 12-2 and 9-5.
The second game was back and forth despite the Vikings not getting any hits. They took advantage of Montague errors to score in each of the first two innings, and it wasn't until the fifth that the Wildcats gained the lead. In the fifth, the 'Cats took advantage of some Whitehall miscues to score four times and go ahead 5-2.
Montague extended that lead out to 9-2 in the final inning, but as the Wildcat pitching staff struggled with control issues and an error, Whitehall battled back to within 9-5 before Remi Lohman entered the game to close it out.
Lohman combined with Cole Herremans, who hit his pitch count limit and had to be subbed out of the game, on the game two no-hitter. Herremans struck out eight and allowed only one earned run due to the errors before Lohman finished things off.
Chase Kurtzhal had a big game two at the plate, doubling twice among his three hits. Fletcher Thommen and Eli Pendell got two hits apiece, and Kurtzhal, Cooper Bradley and Levi Auger each scored twice.
"Pitching was great for both games," Montague coach Jeff Moss said. "Moving forward we just need to clean up some small things. Like I tell the guys, control what you can control, do the small things right, and we will be successful."
Game one was all Montague, as the Wildcats scored seven times in the second inning and cruised to the mercy-rule win in six innings. Run-scoring singles from Thommen and Dylan Bailey were the big hits in the explosive second inning.
In the sixth, Montague scored twice to end the game, including a RBI single by Karter Johnson. The clinching run came home on an error, one of five by the Vikings in the game.
Cole Moss and Bailey each had two hits in the game and scored twice. Johnson got a hit, drew two walks and scored twice, and Auger had two walks and scored twice.
Eli Petersen dominated on the mound for Montague, striking out 10 and allowing only three hits and one earned run in his six innings.
Noah Morse was the only Viking to reach base twice in game one, getting a hit and drawing a walk. Evan Thomas pitched four innings and allowed three earned runs, striking out three.
Whitehall coach Brian Peets said the Vikings need to improve defensively, noting that only nine of the 21 runs Montague scored in the two games were earned.
"We had ample opportunities to get out of innings," Peets said. "We had five foul balls that should have given us outs or ended innings that were misplayed, and Montague capitalized on each of them. Give credit to Montague's pitching. They kept us off balance a majority of both games."
