Panthers win two of five
Gavin Cooper slides in safely with a stolen base for Monticello as the ball gets past a Vinton-Shellsburg infielder June 2 at Dailey Field. (Photos by Pete Temple)
Panther leftfielder Alex Nealson fires the ball in after fielding a Vinton-Shellsburg hit that landed fair and bounced into foul territory.
Ryan Manternach winds and fires for Monticello June 2.
Five games in a period of eight days resulted in a pair of wins for the Monticello High School baseball team in recent action.
The Panthers (3-2 conference, 3-3 overall) split four River Valley Conference games, sweeping Camanche 6-1 and 6-4, the latter in nine innings in a May 25 home doubleheader. Monticello then lost a pair of RVC road games, 11-1 in six innings at Wilton May 30, and 8-3 at Mid-Prairie June 1.
On June 2, Monticello returned home and came out on the short end of a 13-9 non-conference slugfest against Vinton-Shellsburg.
The highlight of this stretch was probably Jacob Manternach’s two-run, walkoff homer in the second Camanche game, that broke a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the ninth inning and secured a Panther sweep.
“Jacob has worked extremely hard this offseason and had several timely hits,” Monticello coach Josh Soper said.
First, though, the Panthers stopped Camanche 6-1 as Kegan Arduser pitched a four-hitter.
“Kegan had an excellent outing on the mound,” Soper said. “He threw strikes and mixed his pitches well. We struggled to hit as a team, but were able to manufacture some runs.”
Kyle Sperfslage batted 2-for-3 with two runs batted in, both on a single in the sixth inning that turned a 4-1 lead into 6-1.
In the nightcap, which featured Jacob Manternach’s walkoff homer, he batted 3-for-5 with four runs batted in. Gavin Cooper was 2-for-4 in that game. Alex Kremer had three stolen bases, and Sperfslage had two. Sperfslage, pitching seven innings in relief of Tyler Hospodarsky, got the win.
At Wilton, the host Beavers broke the game open with three runs in the third inning and four in the fourth, taking an 8-1 lead. Monticello was held to one hit.
“Our pitchers pitched better than the score indicated, but our defense let us down,” Soper said. “Wilton is ranked number two in the state. We had a big opportunity in the first with the bases loaded and no outs, but could only score one run.”
In the Mid-Prairie game, Monticello trailed 5-1 through five innings but closed the gap to 5-3 with a two-run sixth, which included an RBI double by Jon Mootz and an RBI single by Kremer. The Golden Hawks came back to score three in the bottom half, however, and went on to win.
“Once again, we had opportunities to put a couple of crooked numbers up on the board, but couldn’t get the timely hits,” the coach said. “This is a process, and we have a young team. The important thing is to learn and improve as the season continues.”
On Friday, Vinton-Shellsburg and Monticello combined for 20 runs over the first three innings, as the visiting Vikings took an 11-9 lead. Each team scored six runs in the third inning alone.
V-S tacked on two runs in the top of the fifth inning to gain a four-run lead, and the Panthers didn’t score again.
It was another big game for Jacob Manternach, who went 4-for-5 with a double and four runs batted in. Cooper was 2-for-4 with a double and three runs scored. Also getting two hits each were Avery Martensen and Sperfslage.
Ryan Manternach was the starting pitcher, and took the loss. Hospodarsky pitched the last 4 1/3 innings in relief.
Monticello had a five-game week scheduled this week, with a doubleheader at North Cedar June 5, a home game against West Branch June 6, a game at Tipton June 8, and a varsity reserve-varsity matchup at home against Anamosa June 10.
May 25
Monticello 6, Camanche 1
(first game)
MONTICELLO AB R H BI
Sperfslage 2b 3 1 2 2
Manternach, J. c 4 0 0 0
Manternach, R. 3b 2 1 0 0
Martensen 1b 2 1 0 1
Mescher ss 2 0 0 0
Arduser lf 1 1 0 1
Kremer rf 2 0 0 0
Hospodarsky dh 3 1 1 0
Cooper cf 3 1 1 0
Lambert, C. cr 0 0 0 0
Totals 22 6 4 4
Camanche 001 000 0 – 1 4 3
Monticello 112 002 x – 6 6 1
SB – Sperfslage 2, R. Manternach, Cooper,
Martensen, Mescher, Hospodarsky.
Monticello IP H R ER BB SO
Arduser (W, 1-0) 7 4 1 1 2 1
Totals 7 4 1 1 2 1
Monticello 6, Camanche 4
(second game)
MONTICELLO AB R H BI
Sperfslage 2b 2 0 0 1
Manternach, J. c 5 2 3 4
Manternach, R. 3b 4 0 1 1
Martensen 1b 3 0 0 0
Mescher ss 4 0 0 0
Arduser dh 3 0 0 0
Kremer rf 3 1 1 0
Hospodarsky p 3 1 0 0
Cooper cf 4 2 2 0
Nealson lf 0 0 0 0
Lambert, C. cr 0 0 0 0
Totals 31 6 7 6
Camanche 120 010 000 – 4 8 2
Monticello 003 010 002 – 6 7 1
HR – J. Manternach.
2B – J. Manternach.
SB – Kremer 3, Sperfslage 2, Arduser,
Hospodarsky, Cooper.
Monticello IP H R ER BB SO
Hospodarsky 2 6 3 3 0 2
Sperfslage (W, 1-0) 7 2 1 0 1 6
Totals 9 8 4 3 1 8
May 30
Wilton 11, Monticello 1
(six innings)
MONTICELLO AB R H BI
Sperfslage 3b 2 1 0 0
Manternach, J. c 3 0 1 0
Manternach, R. p 2 0 0 0
Martensen 1b 3 0 0 0
Mescher ss 3 0 0 1
Mootz dh 2 0 0 0
Kremer rf 1 0 0 0
Arduser lf 1 0 0 0
Recker ph 1 0 0 0
Cooper cf 2 0 0 0
Hospodarsky 2b 0 0 0 0
Totals 20 1 1 1
Monticello 100 000 – 1 1 3
Wilton 103 421 – 11 9 0
SB – R. Manternach 2, Sperfslage, Kremer.
Monticello IP H R ER BB SO
Manternach, R. 1 2 1 1 0 1
Arduser (L, 1-1) 3 4 7 2 0 1
Hospodarsky 1 2/3 3 3 3 0 1
Totals 5 2/3 9 11 6 0 3
June 1
Mid-Prairie 8, Monticello 3
MONTICELLO AB R H BI
Sperfslage ss 4 1 1 0
Manternach, J. c 3 0 3 0
Manternach, R. 3b 3 0 0 0
Martensen 1b 3 1 1 1
Mescher p 4 0 0 0
Mootz dh 3 1 1 1
Arduser lf 1 0 0 0
Nealson lf 2 0 0 0
Kremer rf 3 0 1 0
Cooper cf 3 0 2 1
Hospodarsky 2b 0 0 0 0
Totals 29 3 9 3
Monticello 100 002 0 – 3 9 3
Mid-Prairie 120 203 x – 8 6 1
2B – J. Manternach, Mootz.
SB – J. Manternach 2, Kremer, Cooper,
R. Manternach.
Monticello IP H R ER BB SO
Mescher (L, 0-1) 4 3 5 2 0 4
Sperfslage 2 3 3 3 2 2
Totals 6 6 8 5 2 6
June 2
Vinton-Shellsburg 13, Monti 9
MONTICELLO AB R H BI
Cooper cf 4 3 2 1
Sperfslage 3b 5 1 2 1
Manternach, J. c 5 1 4 4
Manternach, R. p 3 0 0 0
Martensen 1b 4 1 2 0
Mescher ss 1 1 1 0
Mootz dh 4 1 1 1
Kremer rf 3 0 0 1
Hospodarsky 2b 3 1 1 1
Nealson lf 0 0 0 0
Totals 31 9 13 9
Vinton-Shlsbg. 236 020 0 – 13 15 2
Monticello 216 000 0 – 9 13 2
2B – Cooper, J. Manternach.
SB – Cooper, J. Manternach.
Monticello IP H R ER BB SO
Mntrnch., R. (L. 0-1) 2 2/3 10 11 10 2 1
Hospodarsky 4 1/3 5 2 1 0 2
Totals 7 15 13 11 2 3
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