Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

The CAM Cougars worked out of a 7th inning jam with some great defensive play and earned their way to the Substate Final with a 3-2 win over Lenox on Saturday night in Anita.

It wasn’t an easy finish for the Cougars with Lenox getting two runners on with nobody out to start the top of the 7th. Drew Venteicher had a base hit to lead off then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Colton Gordon then sent a beautiful bunt down the third base line that came to rest in the dirt just before the chalk to stay fair and put runners at the corners for the Tigers. Nick Holste ran out of pitches and Marcus Daugherty had to come in to try to get out of the jam. Then came the play of the night as Jared Hensley hit a fly ball to shallow center field. DeShawn Carr who had just moved over to center from right was able to get underneath the ball and make the catch. He then rifled a throw to home plate as the runners took off for the Tigers. Austin Chester snagged the ball just in front of home plate and secured a standing tag on Zach Schmitz, who was running for Venteicher, and not allow the tying run to score. Daugherty was then able to get Kaleb Anderson to pop out back to him to end the game.

Carr talked about the big play:

Holste picked up the win on the mound allowing 2 runs on 7 hits with 2 strikeouts, no walks, and 1 hit batter.  Holste was impressed by the big play of his teammates to secure the win:

Daugherty got the save getting out of the 7th inning jam. He talked after the game about that big moment in the 7th as well:

Jared Hensley took the loss for Lenox going the distance allowing 3 runs on 5 hits with 2 strikeouts, and 2 walks.

CAM opened up the game with 3 hits in the first to score two runs and get the early lead. Marcus Daugherty started the game with a base hit and was driven home on a single by Austin Chester three batters later. Mitchell Williamson got a base hit and eventually reached home on a fielders choice.  Carr talked about the importance of getting off to that great start:

Lenox came back to score a run in the 2nd and 3rd innings to tie it up at 2. Drew Venteicher had an RBI single that brought Colton Hogan home in the 2nd. Jared Hensley came home on an error in the third when Dawson Tullberg reached first on a pop up that Kolby Nelson and DeShawn Carr let drop between them.

The Cougars got the deciding run of the game in the 4th inning thanks to two Lenox errors. Nick Holste led off the inning with a base hit and went to second as the ball was misplayed in the outfield. Ben Tibken then reached on a throwing error to first base and came around to second as Holste came home to score. The Cougars would load the bases up after that with a walk and a hit batter but Thomas Hensley flied out to center to end the inning.

Lenox ends their season at 20-6. CAM improved to 21-7 on the season and will move on to face 26-12 St. Albert in the Substate 7 Final on Tuesday night in Harlan at 7:00pm.  The Falcons were winners on their home field in the District 14 Final over Stanton 4-1. We’ll have that Substate 7 Final on KJAN Tuesday night with Pregame at 6:45pm and First Pitch at 7:00pm.

Class 1A

District 13: CAM 3, Lenox 2
District 14: St. Albert 4, Stanton 1
District 15: Coon Rapids 4, Ar-We-Va 1
District 16: Akron-Westfield 10, Kingsley-Pierson 1

Class 2A

District 3: Kuemper Catholic 8, Alta/Aurelia 7
District 15: Tri-Center 9, West Central Valley 1
District 16: Treynor 2, Clarinda 1

w/ Chris Parks

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Class 1A

District 13: Lenox @ CAM 7:00pm (ON KJAN w/ Chris Parks)
District 14: Stanton @ St. Albert 7:00pm
District 15: Ar-We-Va @ Coon Rapids-Bayard 7:00pm
District 16: Kingsley-Pierson @ Akron-Westfield 7:00pm

Class 2A

District 3: Alta/Aurelia @ Kuemper Catholic 7:00pm
District 15: West Central Valley @ Tri-Center 7:00pm
District 16: Clarinda @ Treynor 7:00pm

The Creston Panthers scored 2 runs in the top of the 1st and 7th innings to defeat the Atlantic Trojans 4-2 on Friday night in Glenwood in Class 3A District 16 Semifinal play.

The Panthers opened the game with 2 runs on 4 hits in the first inning with Brandon McDowell and Cody Crawford crossing the plate. The Trojans answered back with an RBI Single by Noah Bruckner in the bottom of the first and an RBI double by Phoenix Shadden in the second to tie the game up at 2.

Both teams would stall out from the third to the sixth with Atlantic missing more opportunities during that stretch, leaving 5 runners on base those innings. The biggest missed opportunity was the sixth when the Trojans got two on with no outs and came up empty in the inning.

Creston then scored 2 in the top of the 7th with 2 hits and aided by two errors and a walk from the Trojans. The big play for the Panthers came when Cody Crawford hit a grounder to the left field gap and Trojan shortstop Chase McLaren came across to snag the ball and had to make a tough throw attempt to third for a force out try. The throw got away to the fence allowing two runners to come home for the Panthers.  Those proved to be the deciding runs as the Trojans couldn’t get anything going in the bottom of the 7th.

Kadon Hulett pitched 6 strong innings for the Creston win with 7 strikeouts and allowing 2 runs on 6 hits with 1 walk. Dustin Merritt came in to close in the 7th for the Panthers and got his 3rd save of the season. Chase Mullenix took the loss for Atlantic allowing 4 runs on 6 hits with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks.

Atlantic ends the season at 12-20. Creston improved to 14-19 and will now face Denison-Schleswig in the district final on Monday in Glenwood.  The Monarchs beat Glenwood 2-1 in the second game of the night Friday.

Class 3A District Semifinals

Substate 8, District 16

Creston 4, Atlantic 2
Denison-Schleswig 2, Glenwood 1

Substate 8, District 15

Greene County 7 , ADM, Adel 4
Harlan 10 , Carroll 0 (5 innings)

Class 4A Substate First Round

Substate 8

Waukee 10 , Council Bluffs, Thomas Jefferson 0 (6 innings)
Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 3 , Ames 2 (8 innings)
Urbandale 4 , Lewis Central 3 (9 innings)

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Josh Bell hit a three-run homer off Seung Hwan Oh with one out in the ninth inning to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a 5-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

Adam Frazier led off the bottom of the ninth with a double and Oh intentionally walked Andrew McCutchen with one out. Bell, a rookie, stepped in and sent a pitch from Oh (1-5) into the seats in left field for the first game-ending hit of his career. The Pirates have won six of seven.

Bell finished 2 for 3 with four RBIs. His 17 home runs lead the Pirates.

Felipe Rivero (4-2) earned the win after retiring the Cardinals on seven pitches in the top of the ninth.

Frazier added three hits for Pittsburgh, and Gregory Polanco had two hits and an RBI.

Jedd Gyorko hit a two-run homer in the first inning for the Cardinals.

Class 3A District Semifinals

Substate 8, District 16

Atlantic vs. Creston (@ Glenwood) 5:00pm (ON KJAN w/ Chris Parks)
Denison-Schleswig @ Glenwood

Substate 8, District 15

Greene County vs. ADM (@ Harlan) 5:00pm
Carroll @ Harlan 7:00pm

Class 4A Substate First Round

Substate 8

Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson @ Waukee 7:00pm
Ames @ Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln 7:00pm
Lewis Central @ Urbandale 7:00pm

Junior Thomas Hensley shined on the mound for the CAM Cougars on Thursday night leading them to a 6-0 win over the Nodaway Valley Wolverines.  Hensley struck out 11 on his way to a one-hit shutout.

The bats warmed up early for the Cougars as well as they scored three runs on two hits in the second inning. Nick Holste, Kolby Nelsen, and Ben Tibken all crossed the plate with the help of two errors from Nodaway Valley in the inning as well.

The Cougars tacked on two more runs in the 3rd with Mitchell Williamson and DeShawn Carr getting hits and the Wolverines committing two more errors. Williamson drove in Hensley on a base hit in the 4th to complete the scoring.

Corbin Bond took the loss for Nodaway Valley allowing 6 runs on 6 hits through 4 innings pitched. The Wolverines end their season 8-17.

CAM improved to 20-7 and moves on to the District 13 Final on Saturday night at home against Lenox.  The Tigers beat Earlham 3-2 in the first game of the night in Anita.  We’ll have that match-up for you Saturday on KJAN with a 6:50pm Pregame and 7:00pm first pitch.