(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
With a trip to the state tournament on the line, one run was all that was needed to settle Class 1A Substate 7’s representative.
The Ankeny Christian Academy Eagles (18-9) attempted to knock off the fifth-ranked Lynnville-Sully Hawks (26-3) during Tuesday’s substate final in Pella. The Hawks ultimately outlasted ACA with a 1-0 victory in nine innings.
“What a good game, what a great played game, what a great pitched game,” said ACA coach Ryan Johnson. “We just came up short offensively a couple times. Eli (Christensen) pitched his heart out. I couldn’t be more proud of him, the way he battled out there and the way our defense played behind him.”
The Eagles were amidst their deepest playoff run in program history following a 4-1 victory over Panorama and 5-3 victories over Madrid and Earlham to reach their first substrate final.
They were riding a wave of momentum that left them feeling confident against a Lynnville-Sully team that beat them convincingly earlier in the season.
ACA met Lynnville-Sully in Urbandale on May 25, which ended with the Hawks collecting 15 hits with two home runs for a 9-0 shutout of the Eagles.
The Hawks struggled to collect one hit, much less 15, in the second meeting of the season with a strong outing from Christensen and the defense backing him.
The senior righthander tossed a one-hitter through eight innings of play and finished his night with 10 strikeouts, three hits allowed and one earned run.
“I think from our first loss, for our defense, it just wasn’t our day,” said Christensen, whose record dropped to 7-3. “Man, they really showed up today. We needed all of them and they all made plays. I just couldn’t be prouder.”
The Hawks only had two base runners through the first seven innings.
A single off Christensen led to the runner being thrown out at second on a steal attempt in the fourth inning. A full-count walk in the seventh had a potential game-winning run stranded at second with Christensen and the Eagles forcing extra innings.
What ultimately did the Eagles in were a pair of hits in the bottom of the ninth.
Davis Utech hammered a leadoff double past Daniel Schoening in left field. With two outs, Christensen looked for a third strike to force a 10th inning, but a single toward center field from Carson Maston allowed the Hawks to walk things off.
ACA had a couple of chances to put some runs on the board, but was unable to capitalize.
“Offensively, we felt like we had better approaches in what we did than the first time around,” Johnson said. “We thought we could get on top and we almost did. Eli pitched his heart out, kept them off balance, and they didn’t really threaten until later in the game.”
Landon Curtis was tagged out at home on a grounder by Dylan Quick in the second inning. The Eagles put runners on second and third with one out in the third and eighth innings and left them stranded both times.
Maston earned the win for Lynnville-Sully with five brilliant innings of relief, allowing just two hits while striking out 12 of the 15 batters that he retired. The Hawks will advance to next week’s state tournament at Carroll.
Despite seeing the season come to an end, the 2024 Eagles helped the program reach new heights with their first substate final appearance.
ACA was led by a core of nine seniors that helped them make the run in their final seasons. Now the Eagles are hoping the young, returning players can build off the success of their postseason run.
“It goes back to my eighth grade year that I’ve been playing,” said Christensen, who also went 2-for-4 at the plate. “It’s been so much fun with these guys. It’s always tough to lose the last game of the season, but we really gave it our all. I’m so proud of all the guys. It’s been so much fun with them.”
