MONTAGUE — Montague’s quest to continue its three-year reign as West Michigan Conference (and Lakes Division) champion took a big hit Tuesday, as rival Whitehall secured a pair of lopsided victories, 11-0 and 10-1.
Whitehall raced out to big leads in the first inning of both contests, scoring seven times in game one and four times in game two.
“We really wanted to come out tonight and get off to a good start, so I was ecstatic that we were able to do that in both games,” Whitehall coach Warren Zweigle said.
Ryne Christensen ignited the Viking attack in game one with a RBI triple, and Brock Morningstar brought him in with a single. From there, Whitehall small-balled its way to more runs, with Ethan DeShong, Isaac VanAmberg and Kyle Stratton driving in runs with singles. A three-run double by Noah Meinert extended the lead in the second inning, and Nate Betz added a RBI single in the fourth to cap the game’s scoring. Christensen pitched a great game, striking out five and allowing six hits and no walks in a five-inning shutout.
Eli Petersen had two of those hits for the Wildcats, and Ryver Jarka stole a base. Due to a few untimely errors, only three of the 11 runs for Whitehall were earned. Bryton Belinger pitched 1 2/3 innings of shutout relief, striking out two.
“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves right away,” Montague coach Jeff Moss said of game one. “We have been preaching plate approaches and having quality at-bats, and going down seven early, those approaches became more of a press, and you could see it.”
Things went awry for Montague in game two as well, with the first three batters reaching on a walk, hit-by-pitch and a dropped third strike, resulting in a run. Ryan Goodrich laced an RBI single in the inning. A run-scoring error in the second unfortunately created a pattern for Montague, which committed seven such miscues in game two.
“It’s just tough to win against any team when you commit seven errors,” Moss said. “Eli Petersen pitched well and we didn’t help him out on the defensive side.”
Montague got on the board via a wild pitch in the fourth inning, but Whitehall quickly struck back with four more runs in the bottom of the inning. Christensen and VanAmberg had run-scoring singles in the frame, but errors again played a role.
Morningstar enjoyed a solid performance on the mound, striking out five in 3 1/3 innings and allowing three hits. He gave way to Stratton, who threw 1 2/3 innings of hitless relief before the game was called for darkness.
“Our pitchers were outstanding tonight,” Zweigle said. “Ryne and Brock have clearly established themselves as our top two pitchers and they were both dominant tonight.”
“(We) told the boys to remain positive and this will all click sooner than later for them,” Moss said. “We learn things from these games and know what we need to work on.”
