Cedar Falls pitcher Shae Buskohl throws a literal curveball in Kennedy’s state baseball plans

CEDAR RAPIDS — Curveball Paul? Curveball Saul?

Those nicknames kinda work for Cedar Falls’ starting pitcher Wednesday night in a Class 4A substate final baseball game at Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

Shae Buskohl had as brilliant an outing as you’re going to see on this big stage, throwing a two-hit, 12-strikeout, 2-0 shutout of Kennedy in a win that sends CF (27-14) to next week’s state tournament in Iowa City, specifically Banks Field on the University of Iowa campus.

Referencing the first four words of this story, Buskohl was able to overwhelm the Cougars (29-11) with one overhand curve after another. Kennedy hitters didn’t really have much of a chance, couldn’t pick up the extreme spin the right-hander put on the pitch.

“Yeah, it was working today,” said Buskohl. “When the breaking ball is working, I mean, basically that’s going to be my main pitch. I threw probably 80-percent breaking balls today. When it works, no one is going to be hitting it.”

That certainly was true here. Nolan Grawe had both of Kennedy’s hits, a one-out single in the bottom of the first and two-out single to right field in the third that appeared to give Kennedy a run.

But Cedar Falls right fielder Teeghen Rath threw a one-hop bullet home to catcher Maddox Strassburg, who applied a tag on Kennedy’s Owen Hutchison, who was trying to score from second base. Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer said he felt Hutchison may have slid through Strassburg’s legs enough to get his foot across the plate before the tag but that wasn’t the call.

Buskohl then shredded Kennedy hitters from there, retiring the final 12, seven by strikeout, including all three in the ninth.

“Shae was really, really good,” Hoyer said. “You’ve just got to tip your cap to him. He was phenomenal. We knew we were going to see that, but there’s only so much you can do to train for and simulate it. ”

Kennedy starting pitcher Jace Scott definitely gave the Cougars a chance. He walked more than he should have (7) in his five innings of work but didn’t give up a hit, making pitches when he needed to.

He walked the CF leadoff man in the top of the sixth and was replaced by Grant Mather. Logan Wroe greeted him with his team’s first hit, a single to center that got under the glove of the Kennedy center fielder and rolled far enough away to allow Collin Coonradt to score the game’s first run.

A leadoff triple and ensuing sacrifice fly gave Cedar Falls a huge insurance run in the seventh. Though huge might not be totally accurate considering how Buskohl was dealing.

“I think we can win this thing,” Buskohl said of next week’s state tournament.

Kennedy missed out on its first state tournament trip since 2015. The Cougars lose Iowa-bound pitcher Rowan Donels to graduation, but the vast majority of this successful club returns next season.

Hoyer just retired from teaching at Kennedy, so must reapply for his head baseball coaching job.

“If they hire me back, I’m not done here,” he said. “My intent is to reapply. We’ve got a lot of guys coming back.”

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