Malcolm pieces together fifth-place finish

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Sore arms and a youth-filled roster have made for some long games for the Malcolm Senior Legion baseball team. With three of the team’s oldest and most experienced players unavailable to pitch because of arm injuries, head coach Doug Churchwell has done his best to piece together a pitching staff that some days includes boys who have just completed their freshman year of high school facing young men bound for college.

“It is definitely not the ideal situation,” Churchwell said. “But, we do what we can with who we have.

“I have to believe the experience our young guys are getting now will help them in the years to come.”

The boys from Malcolm had their best week to date as they picked up three wins and a fifth-place finish at the Thom Stallard Invitational in Crete.

Malcolm opened tournament play June 15 with a 6-5 win over Shelton-Gibbon. Trenton Steckelberg went the distance in the win allowing just three earned runs while striking out 10 batters.

“If we were going to have any hope of making it through the tournament with enough pitching, we needed Trenton to pitch the whole game,” Churchwell said. “He gave us a gutty performance.”

With one out in the top of the seventh and the potential tying run at first, Malcolm catcher Trevor Hoeft gunned down Sam Kucera as he attempted to steal second. Steckelberg got two strikeouts to close out the game and secure the win.

Dustin Plautz led Malcolm at the plate by going 2-for-3 with a double, triple and one run batted in.

In the two games on June 16, offense ruled the day as Malcolm was outpaced by Lexington 15-11 and Crete 18-9.

The Malcolm seniors returned to Crete June 17 for a Father’s Day game against Albion to determine fifth place in the eight-team tournament. Malcolm outlasted Albion 11-10.

Haydn Deinert had a big day going 3-for-4 with a double and a home run while Beau Sackett went 3-for-4 and scored the game-winning run when Nate Kuhn drove him in with a single in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Malcolm’s first win of the week came June 13 at Adams when Rick Nickel went 3-for-3 with two RBIs to lead the team in a 10-2 win. Nickel also struck out five Adams batters to pick up the win on the mound.

The same night, in the Malcolm juniors’ only game of the week, Nickel opened the game with a single and would later drive in a run in an 11-4 win.

Grant Battles struck out three and picked up the win while Jacob Schweitzer came in to close out the game.

The Malcolm seniors (5-9) will travel to Tecumseh Wednesday, June 20, for their only game this week. The juniors (2-4) will go with the seniors to Tecumseh before playing some tough Class A and B competition in the Crete Tournament this weekend. Malcolm opens with Kearney Five Points Bank Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.