Sports

For just the second time in three seasons, the Dannebrog-Cairo-Boelus (DCB) Seniors were handed a loss. In the second round of the 2022 Nebraska American Legion Senior Class C State Tournament, Malcolm edged out DCB in a defensive battle, 2-1, sending the locals to the bottom half ofthe bracket. Both pitching staffs and defenses came to play on Sunday night. Through four innings, DCB and Malcolm combined for just two total hits and entered the fifth with no runs onthe board. Bosten Caspersen was nearly perfect in the game and looked like he would make it through the fifth inning unscathed. After striking out the first two batters he faced, Malcolm’s Maddox Meyer kept the inning alive with a two-out single to center field. Up next in the Malcolm batting order was their cleanup hitter, Connor Zegar. Zegar watched one pitch go by before belting a double into the DCB outfield, bringing Meyer home for the game’s firstscore. DCB was retired in order in the bottom of the inning but held onto that one-run deficit with three quick outs in the top of thesixth. Time was dwindling for the defending state champions and, in the top of the sixth frame, they put together their best performance of the night. Nolan Hurt and Barrett Fries hit consecutive singles to begin the bottom of the sixth inning. With runners on first and second, Bryce Gorecki grounded into a double play, but Hurt was able to make his way homeand even up the score. Tanner Simdorn was called to the pitcher’s mound in the game’s final inning and Malcolm put him in a jam right away. After a leadoff walk, Meyer doubled to center field, putting runners on first and third. Afterwards, Zegar made his second big play of the night when he hit a grounder to Carter Noakes at shortstop, driving in his team’s secondrun of the game. However, with two runners in scoring position, Simdorn struck out the next two batters he facedand forced Jason Clarke to fly out to center field, to keep his team within a run in their final plate appearances.