OZARK — Vianney and Platte County advanced to the Class 5 baseball state final with victories Friday in the semifinal round at Ozark Mountain Sports Complex.
Vianney defeated Marshfield 8-3 in the first Class 5 semifinal game, and Platte County downed Summit 6-1 in the second contest in games that were delayed due to scattered thunderstorms.
Vianney (38-1) and Platte County (28-8) will play at 1 p.m. Saturday in Class 5 final.
The Griffins are in the state championship game for the first time since 2018, when they won the Class 5 title. Platte County is back in the state title game for the first time since winning it all in 2022.
Summit (26-8) and Marshfield (25-12) will square off in the third-place game at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Here are a few observations from the pair of semifinal games.
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Big inning carries Vianney
Marshfield nearly wriggled off the hook early against Vianney.
Griffins senior catcher Mike Altobella made sure it couldn’t.
Altobella smashed a two-run triple down the left field line to break open the game in the first inning.
“I went into the box looking for a fastball and knew the lefty didn’t throw that hard, so I was sitting and wanting to be on time for the fastball,” Altobella said. “If he tried to spin something at me, it’s slow, I’ll be on time. Mindset was hit a ball and hit it hard and be on time.”
The Griffins finished the opening inning with five runs on five hits to pounce all over Marshfield.
This came right after Vianney wriggled out of its own jam, ending a bases-loaded threat with a 4-6-3 double play in the top half of the first.
“As soon as we were in the field with one out and baes loaded, everyone was down a little bit, it wasn’t a good feeling, but we got the momentum back and from there, we were able to work with that,” Altobella said. “That was a huge momentum shift.”
Altobella went 1-for-3 at the plate with those two RBI, while fellow senior Trey Jozwiakowski went 2-for-3 with two RBI for the Griffins.
It’s the 18th game this season Vianney has scored eight or more runs.
Dohrmann shakes off early woes
Griffins senior starter JD Dohrmann’s final stat line looked sterling, but it didn’t start that way.
With the rain falling around him, the senior struggled through his first two innings.
“I wish I could blame it on the rain, but I was struggling through the first two innings,” Dohrmann said. “I didn’t have my stuff. They came out swinging and props to them for having a game plan and sticking to it.”
Through the first two innings, he gave up two runs on four hits and walked one batter.
In the final 4 2-3 innings, he gave up a lone hit and struck out six to close out his line of 6 2-3 innings, six strikeouts and two runs on five hits.
“I kind of thought some things through and got with my catcher and executed a game plan,” Dohrmann said.
Dohrmann handed the ball off to senior Noah Steffan, who pitched the final third of an inning to send Vianney to the Class 5 championship.
“We’ve got the biggest game of the year, but we’re going to try it like any other day,” Dohrmann said. “We’ll go out, we’re 0-0 now and one game left.”
Summit can’t find the big hit
Summit coach Jason Schneider couldn’t fault his team’s fight.
The ball just never seemed to find a hole in Platte County’s defense.
“I thought our guys prepared very well. The hits didn’t show it, that’s for sure, but (Kaden Dinges) hit absolute barrels,” Schneider said. “Just got to keep playing the game the right way and it’ll reward you. It didn’t reward us today and that’s just the way it is sometimes.”
Summit only mustered two hits against a parade of Platte County pitchers.
The Pirates threw three different pitchers at the Falcons on Saturday, with junior Brooks Hall going the longest over the final three innings.
Dinges provided Summit’s lone RBI with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning to break up the shutout.
Senior pitcher Gabe Sieve kept the Falcons in the game.
The senior went 5 1-3 innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits and seven strikeouts.
“He did fine and competed well,” Schneider said. “There were plays that should have been made out there behind him. Congrats to Platte County. They were the better team today. One has to go on the right side of the bracket, and unfortunately, we were on the other side of that today.”
