By Jon Akre

605 Sports

“Just tried to hit something hard,” said Calhoon on the homer. “I didn’t know it was gone. I was running really hard out of the box and then everyone got loud and I saw the ball rolling behind the fence.”

This was the third matchup of the season between the Region 4B foes, with the No. 2 Royals taking both prior matchups over the Honkers. But as the saying goes, it’s tough to beat a team three times in one year.

“We knew it was going to be a tough battle,” said Winner/Colome coach Austin Calhoon. “We had a couple of close games with them in the regular season. They know everything about us, we know everything about them. So it was going to be a battle.”

The Royals and Honkers first met back on April 29, a 5-4 win for WC in Platte. Similar to how Monday’s quarterfinal contest went, it came down to who can make just one more play.

“That’s how it usually goes, that’s how it’s been the last 3-4 years we’ve played them,” said coach Calhoon. “Doesn’t matter who’s on the team, it’s just always going to be down to that last inning and who can come up clutch and fortunately we were able to do that today.”

PGDCWL pitcher Keaton Christensen kept the Honkers in the lead for a majority of his start, allowing just two runs on five hits and six walks in 6.2 innings, striking out eight batters in the process.

“He’s just good,” said Landon of Christensen. “He doesn’t walk very many people. Good velocity, good off-speed. He’s just good.”

Going into the seventh inning the Royals found themselves in a do-or-die situation down 2-1. Despite the deficit and a limited pitch-count Christensen, coach Calhoon gave the Royals the green light to be aggressive at the plate.

“All of our guys had 3+ at-bats off of him and they kind of had his timing down,” said Calhoon. “I told our guys if they see a strike, go for it. I want them to be aggressive, that’s kind of our whole mantra is just be aggressive whether it’s swinging or defensively.”

On top of Calhoon’s walk-off homer, he also came up clutch to force extra innings both on the mound and at the plate, tossing three shutout innings in relief of Aiden Schroeder and driving the ball back up the middle to score the tying run in the seventh inning.

And in the top of the ninth, Calhoon, who batted 2-for-4 with a double, homer and two RBIs, called game.

“Wasn’t 100% sure if it was gone off the bat,” said coach Calhoon. “I was telling him second for sure, maybe third. He just crushed it, the best swing of his career up to this point.”

The Royals move on to the state semifinals and will face the Madison/Chester vs. Dakota Valley winner Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. Tune in to the action on LiveTicket.Tv.

Quincy Phillips added two hits while Carter McKenzie and Zac Olson each cracked hits in the win.

Aiden Schroeder tossed six strong innings for the Royals, allowing just two runs on seven hits and two walks, striking out five. Calhoon gave up just two walks in three innings of relief, striking out two to earn the victory on the mound.

PGDCWL’s Hayden Sprik took the loss allowing one run in two innings of relief. Jye Bailey and Kenyon Kuiper each tallied two hits while Hayden Sprik drove in a run in the loss for the Honkers.