Willenbring, Rahe move Beckman to title game

DES MOINES - Travis Rahe turned to Dyersville Beckman teammate Travis Hall early in Thursday night's Class 2A state tournament semifinal game at Principal Park with a prediction.

"I told him 'This is going to be a 1-0 game,'" Rahe said.

You were right on, young man. Right on.

It was Rahe who accounted for that run, singling home Hall in the fourth inning as Beckman rode the two-hit pitching of junior Isaac Willenbring to a 1-0 shutout of Cherokee. The Blazers (33-10) are back in a state championship game for a ninth time, the first time since 2003.

Beckman is 3-5 in title tilts, last winning it all in 2000.

And it won't be fellow Wamac Conference mate Solon it'll be facing Saturday afternoon at 2. It'll be Fort Dodge St. Edmond (34-3) instead, a nine-inning winner over Solon in the other 2A semi Thursday.

Solon swept a double-header from Beckman in the regular season.

"I kind of wanted to play them for some revenge," Willenbring said. "But whoever we play, we're going to the state championship game."

This was pure and simply a pitcher's dual from the outset. Both Willenbring (7-1) and Cherokee's Cody Ege (9-1) were on with their stuff and the command of it. The only difference between the two was Willenbring was a right-hander and Ege a lefty.

Both guys walked two and struck out 13. Ege gave up four hits, including Rahe's biggie in the fourth.

Hall led off the inning with a walk and was sacrificed to second. Rahe then sliced a sharp grounder through the right side to plate a sliding Hall.

"Pull the offspeed, go the opposite way with the fastball," said Rahe. "Just like we've been taught all year."

Willenbring took care of the rest, though he had to pitch out of some jams.

Cherokee (26-4), looking for its third championship game appearance in a row, had the bases loaded with one out in the first, but Willenbring got a pair of inning-ending strikouts. The Braves had a runner on third with one out in the third, but Willenbring whiffed .500-hitting Matt Koch, then got Ege on a flyout.

Cherokee had a runner on second with none out in the fourth, but Willenbring notched back-to-back Ks, then got an inning-ending flyball. Beckman left fielder Eric Reittinger dropped a fly with one out in the sixth for a two-base error, the only one of the game, but Willenbring followed by getting a strikeout and groundout.

"Ever since I woke up this morning, I've had adrenalin running," Willenbring said. "I've just had a feeling all year that 'This is the year. This is the year.' The bus ride here, I was like 'I've got to do this for the seniors. They've been great.'"

Cherokee had one of the more top heavy lineups you'll see, with the top four guys hitting .404 or better and the bottom five .291 or worse. In their 15 plate appearances Thursday night, the bottom five Braves reached just twice, a key to this game.

"We need to keep the bottom guys off the bases, so the big guys can't come up and drive them in," said Beckman Coach Tom Jenk Jr. "That's been pretty true to form (for our opponents) all the way through the tournament, from the first round of districts to now. The damage is usually done when 8 and 9 get on, then 1 and 2 come up. And we knew they had great 1-2-3-4 hitters."