Cascade tops Dyersville Beckman in top-10 showdown

CASCADE — Cascade has had its way with most of its opponents this season.

This time, the Cougars proved their resolve against a more formidable foe. One they are quite familiar with as well.

Class 2A fourth-ranked Cascade used a four-run fifth and a solid relief performance from sophomore Haris Hoffman for a 7-4 victory over rival and sixth-ranked Dyersville Beckman on Friday night at American Legion Field.

'The way we're built we needed a game like this to show that scrappiness works against quality opponents,' Cascade Coach Roamn Hummel said. 'We've 10-runned some teams a lot lately. We haven't had a tough game like this in a couple weeks.'

Cascade trailed by one when it broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth. The Cougars sent eight batters to the plate and forced a few fielding miscues.

Dilan Simon opened the inning with a single and advanced to second on Brock Simon's bunt. Dilan Simon stole second then scored to tie the game, 4-4, on an errant throw that skipped into left field. Bryce Simon then started a streak of six straight batters to reach base. Gannon O'Brien reached on a fielders choice that resulted in another throwing error, sending Bryce Simon to third. He scored on Blake Simon's single, putting the Cougars up, 5-4.

'I was just trying to get the ball into right center,' Blake Simon said, 'Hit something hard somewhere to make them make a play. Luckily, it went well.'

Reid Rausch and Derek Koppes, who led the way with three hits, had consecutive singles to make it 6-4 and then pulled off a double steal that allowed Rausch to take home on a young reliever.

They don't have power hitters so the Cougars manufacture runs.

'We have guys who are going to put the ball in play,' Hummel said. 'They're going to get on base. We have some guys that can run and I think getting those guys on base gives us a lot of confidence because we know we can run and get to second base.'

Cascade (16-2) stayed close when Beckman led, scoring a run in the second and two in the third. Blake Simon led off the second with a double and scored on Connor Otting's fielders choice. O'Brien had an RBI single to plate Bryce Simon and scored on Blake Simon's sacrifice fly.

The Blazers posted a line score that looked like binary code. Beckman (15-6) scored one run in each of the first four innings, building leads of 2-0 in the second and 3-1 in the third.

Hoffman threw 4 2/3 innings for the victory, relieving Otting with two on and one out in the third. He got a fly ball and pop out to end the threat. He also pitched out of a one-out jam with two on in the sixth. He closed out the game by striking out the side in the seventh.

'This year, he has been really good for us,' Hummel said. 'We had all our guys ready to go. To have him come out and do what he did against a quality opponent was like, man, we can rely on him in big situations and that is big for us.'

Sam Stelken had three hits to lead Beckman. Jackson Bennett had two RBIs for the Blazers, hitting a sac fly in the first and an RBI double in the third.

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