The Wakefield Post 81 Senior Legion baseball team saw its season come to an end in the 2024 Nebraska Legion Class C State Championship game on Wednesday, Aug. 7 in Wakefield.
In front of their hometown, the Wakefield sluggers defeated Palmer-Wolbach-Greeley (PWG) on Tuesday, Aug. 6 to advance to the championship game the next day where Wakefield unfortunately fell to Malcolm, who captured its third straight Class C Legion State Championship.
In the state championship contest, both teams brought their A-game to deliver a tight contest that embodied what all state championship matchups should be.
On the hump for Wakefield was ace Jesse Lundahl, who fanned eight batters in 6 2/3 innings on the mound for Wakeifeld in its first game of the state tournament against Tecumseh, which resulted in a Wakefield victory.
“The opening game we played really well, played a good Tecumseh game. The highlight was probably Jesse getting the shutout” said Post 81 coach Paul Eaton.
Luckily for Wakefield, Lundahl brought his A-game once again against Malcolm.
Behind the strong arm of Lundahl, Wakefield’s defense did what few have been able to do all season and held Malcolm scoreless through the first five innings of play.
Unfortunately for Wakefield, while the defense remained strong, the offense struggled to gain any momentum. And while Malcolm remained scoreless through five innings, so did Wakefield.
“We knew it was going to be a tough one, but we had Jesse so we knew we could compete. And we did all they got was a two out base hit that won the game. We had a couple of opportunities but we knew one run was going to be close” said coach Eaton.
With the contest tied up at 0-0, Wakefield once again wasn’t able to get on the board in the top of the sixth, which allowed Malcolm to deliver a big strike in the bottom half of the inning.
After a lead-off single followed by sacrifice bunt, Malcolm had a runner on second base with just one out.
Wakefield was able to get the next batter out on a deep flyout to center field which allowed the baserunner to advance to third with two outs.
With a runner on third base and two outs, Malcolm managed a hard single into left field to go up 1-0 late into the contest.
Wakefield did its best to mount a comeback in the top of the seventh, and even managed to put two runners on with two outs, but a grounder to shortstop that was successfully thrown to first for the final out of the inning put an end to Wakefield’s dreams of a comeback and a state championship.
When the final out was recorded, the scoreboard showed 1-0 in favor of Malcolm, which handed Wakefield the Class C State Runner-Up trophy.
This was Post 81’s first appearance in the Legion State Championship since 2010 and was the team’s first state runner-up trophy since 2009.
Prior to its loss in the state championship, Wakefield took on PWG in a win-or-go-home matchup on Tuesday, Aug. 6.
Things didn’t start out too great for Wakefield, who played as the home team in the semi-final matchup.
In the top of the first, PWG sprung out on top almost immediately. After Johnathan Birkely induced a ground-out to start the game, PWG found a groove with a walk followed by two singles. After the two singles, PWG managed to get another run in off of an error to earn a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the first.
Fortunately for Wakefield, it didn’t take too long to strike back.
In the bottom of the first Birkely helped out his own cause with a one-out walk to get things going for Wakefield. After a single by Lundahl and an error off a sacrifice bunt by Adrian Flores, the bases were juiced for Cael Johnson with two outs.
With the weight of the world on his shoulders, Johnson prevailed in the biggest way possible. Johnson belted a triple to left field to score all three runs and erase the Wakefield deficit in the blink of an eye.
From there on, Wakefield was ready to go.
Birkely found a groove on the mound for Post 81, and after getting three straight outs in the top of the second, the Wakefield offense went back to work.
After a single by T. SALMON, Jacob Birkely helped out the cause with a single of his own to center field to score Salmon and give Wakefield the lead for good.
While the remainer of the contest was far from easy, Wakefield never allowed PWG to return the favor with runs of their own. The score remained 4-3 in favor of Post 81 until the bottom of the sixth inning, when Cade Johnson ripped a two-out double to score Mason Lamprecht, who had just hit a double of his own one batter prior, to give Wakefield a 5-3 lead.
In the top of the seventh, Jacob Birkely entered the contest to relieve Jonathan Birkely of his duties on the mound. After giving up back-to-back singles with one out, Jacob got the next two batters to pop out and sent Wakefield to the championship game to play Malcolm the next day.
Despite not ending the season with a win, the Wakefield Post 81 squad proved that Wakefield is still the hub of legion baseball in Nebraska with their incredible performance in the postseason.
The Wakefield Post 81 squad finished out their season with a final record of six wins and four losses in postseason play which earned them the title of Class C Area 2 District Runners-Up as well as 2024 Nebraska Class C Legion State Runner-Ups.
“It was a great tournament. The crowd was amazing, and we appreciate all the people who came out to watch the baseball game it was great.” said Coach Eaton.
“It was an amazing group and we are really proud of them. The people that worked on the field and everyone who took part we want to thank everyone for what they did and coming out to watch. “