After busy week, season slowing down for seniors

    The Pinnacle Bank Senior Legion team kept the roads hot last week as it headed for games in McCook, Ogallala, Broken Bow and Holdrege.
    Now, the Horns’ schedule slows down. Imperial will head to Colby, Kansas Friday for a triangular with Colby and Ulysses.
    A doubleheader at home against Colby will wrap up the regular season schedule July 5.
    Aside from the individual invite all-star game in Kearney July 13, the seniors’ next games won’t be until districts begin July 21 in Valentine.
    Also at the Area 7 District will be Atkinson, Bridgeport and the state tournament hosts, Gordon-Rushville.
    Districts will run through July 25. State will begin July 29 and go through Aug. 2.
Seniors have 2-2 week
    The Horns jumped all over McCook early in their June 20 match up.
    Imperial batted through the lineup and scored four runs to start the game.
    Two more runs in the third inning pushed the Horns’ lead to 6-0.
    McCook’s offense came to life in the fifth inning. Six runs by the MNB Seniors tied the game at 6-6 before four more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning left Imperial trailing 6-10.
    After three quiet innings the Horns led off the seventh inning with a run by Tysen Lempke, but the game ended with a 7-10 Imperial loss after back-to-back strikeouts.
    Carter Leibbrandt and T. Lempke allowed seven walks and six hits while striking out five batters.
    Offensively, Mason Wallin had two hits and three RBIs.
    Wednesday night’s games against Lexington were called off, making last Thursday’s contest at Ogallala next up for the Horns. Ogallala currently leads the Mid-Nebraska League, right ahead of McCook.
    Imperial held an early 1-0 lead in the second inning, but struggled to get its bats going. Horns’ batters struck out 15 times in the game.
    An Imperial error and three walks helped Ogallala score four runs in the third inning. Ogallala added another run in the fourth inning and finished off the Horns 9-1 in six innings with four runs in the bottom of the sixth.
    Cooper Dillan and Gavin Wisnieski gave up seven hits and six walks. Dillan struck out six.
    The Horns turned things around Saturday at Broken Bow.
    As Broken Bow’s pitching struggled with passed balls and wild pitches, Imperial scored two runs in the first inning and another in the second inning thanks to a Broken Bow error.
    Imperial continued to benefit from Broken Bow mistakes in the third inning. Catcher interference, wild pitches, a dropped third strike and another error led to three more Horns’ runs.
    After a scoreless sixth inning, both teams tacked on a run in the seventh to round out the 7-4 Imperial win.
    The Horns only had two RBIs in the game and struck out 15 times. Four Broken Bow errors, as well as a clean defensive game by Imperial, helped the Horns get the win.
    Wallin, Colin O’Neil and Camron Lempke combined to strike out eight batters, walk six and give up seven hits.
    On Sunday the Horns jumped all over Holdrege in the first two innings, then held on for a 12-11 win.
    Eight different players scored at least once for Imperial as the Horns took an 11-0 lead. Imperial had 11 hits, including a two-run homer by Thomas Reeves.
    As Imperial’s bats cooled off over the middle three innings, Holdrege tried to work its way back into the game, scoring seven runs across the second, third and fourth innings.
    Imperial got back on the board thanks to a Holdrege error and passed ball in the sixth inning, but four runs by Holdrege in the bottom of the inning cut Imperial’s lead down to one heading into the seventh.
    After the Horns went down in order, T. Lempke came on in relief and retired all three batters he faced to end the game.
    Imperial went deep into its pitching staff, using O’Neil, Tristan Jablonski, Leibbrandt and T. Lempke in the game. Together they gave up 15 hits, two walks and earned seven strike outs. Behind them, the Horns’ defense committed five errors.
    Imperial had 12 hits and nine RBIs in the game.
    Reeves, Jaret Peterson, Wisnieski and O’Neil had multiple hits in the game.