Sam Bushur pitched six strong innings and drove in three runs Saturday morning, leading the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes to a 5-3 victory over Putnam County in the first of two games.

In the second contest, the Shoes staged a big comeback after trailing by seven runs, but North Clay pushed across a run in the eighth inning to escape with a 9-8 decision.

In the opener, Bushur gave up a run in the opening inning, but then shut Putnam County down over the next five frames. The senior right-hander allowed just two hits over six innings of work, but left the game after throwing 104 pitches. He walked four and struck out 10. Dylan Pruemer pitched the seventh and allowed two unearned runs.

The Shoes took the lead in the third without benefit of a hit. They took advantage of three errors and two walks to go on top 2-1.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth, when the Shoes put together a three-run rally. And it all started after two were out.

Logan Roepke singled, Pruemer walked and Ben Goeckner followed with an RBI base hit. After Caleb Bloemer singled to load the bases, Bushur delivered a base hit up the middle that drove home two more.

The nightcap was all North Clay through the first 4½ innings. They banged out 13 hits, including a home run by Carson Burkett and a two-run triple by Bryton Griffy, to build an 8-1 lead.

But the Shoes began their comeback in the bottom of the fifth by pushing across five runs. With one out, they strung together six straight hits. Mitch Althoff and Kayden Althoff got things started with back-to-back singles with one out. Derek Konkel and Roepke both drove in runs with base hits, Caleb Siemer followed with a two-run double and Pruemer capped the inning with an RBI double that trimmed the gap to 8-6.

T-Town tied the game in the sixth. With two outs, Kayden Althoff singled and Konkel followed with a two-run homer that sailed over the leftfield fence.

But in the top of the eighth, the Cardinals used a lead-off single by Donnie Zimmerman, followed by an error, a walk and a ground ball by Burkett to score the winning tally.

The Shoes finished with 14 hits in the game. Kayden Althoff had four and Pruemer collected three more to lead the way. Konkel had three RBI.

Siemer, who relieved in the fourth, pitched the final 4.1 innings and took the loss. Cade Buehnerkemper was the starter.

The Shoes are now 3-6 on the fall season. They will play today (Monday) at South Central.

Mason Robinson blasted a grand slam in the first game and Jared Hammer drove in five runs in the nightcap, helping the Altamont Indians sweep a doubleheader Monday at Teutopolis.

The Indians posted a 12-4 win in the opener and competed the sweep with a 14-8 decision in the second contest.

Altamont banged out 23 hits in the two games, while T-Town committed 11 errors and allowed 14 unearned runs in the twin bill.

The Indians took control in the opener with a six-run second inning. Wyatt Phillips led off the inning with a base hit. Logan Cornett walked and Mason Winn singled to load the bases. A throwing error allowed the first two runs to score and Hayden Siebert walked to load the bases again.

Robinson then unloaded a blast that sailed over the leftfield fence for a grand slam, staking Altamont to a 6-0 lead.

Robinson finished with three hits in the game, while Phillips and Cornett both had two.

The Wooden Shoes had seven hits, including a two-run homer by Kayden Althoff in the fifth inning that got THS within 8-5. Altamont then scored a pair of runs in both the sixth and seventh to pull away.

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The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes scored early and often Tuesday afternoon, en route to a 16-0, five-inning victory at Woodlawn.

The Shoes banged out 10 hits, took advantage of six Woodlawn errors and were never threatened.

Derek Konkel was the recipient of all that support and made sure the Cardinals bats remained quiet. The right-hander allowed just one hit in four innings of work. He struck out 10 and didn’t walk a batter. Konkel retired the first 10 batters he faced before giving up a one-out single in the fourth. It was Woodlawn’s only baserunner.

The Shoes scored in every inning. They took a 2-0 lead in the first. Sam Bushur was hit by a pitch to start the game. He then stole second and scored on a base hit by Kayden Althoff. An error and a ground out by Brayden Gaddis accounted for the second run.

Bushur belted a two-run homer as part of a four-run second. Following Bushur’s blast, Mitch Althoff singled, stole second and scored on an RBI double by Kayden Althoff. An error let the fourth tally score.

The Shoes then combined two hits, three walks, a hit batter and three errors to push seven runs across in the third and build a 13-0 advantage. THS added a single tally in the fourth and scored the final two runs in the fifth.

Bushur, Caleb Bloemer, Mitch Althoff and Kayden Althoff each had two hits for the Shoes. Kayden Althoff drove in three runs, while Bushur, Bloemer and Gaddis had two RBI.

The win snapped a three-game losing skid and improved T-Town’s record to 2-5. The Shoes will return home Saturday for a doubleheader with North Clay. The first game is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

It took a three-run, sixth-inning rally for the North Clay Cardinals to advance Saturday morning.

But that was nothing compared to the late comeback they staged in their second game.

Trailing 12-3, the Cardinals scored four times in the sixth and then pushed six runs across in the bottom of the seventh, with the winning run coming home on a two-out single by Dakota Weidner.

That gave North Clay a wild 13-12 win and the championship of the Teutopolis Wooden Bat Tournament.

The Wooden Shoes banged out 16 hits and scored in each of the first six innings. They started things off with a two-run first, then added single tallies in the second, third and fifth, plus three runs in the fourth and four more in the sixth to build a seemingly comfortable nine-run cushion.

The Cardinals then had three hits and took advantage of two errors to close the gap to 12-7 heading into the final inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, North Clay combined four hits, four walks and a hit batter to stage the dramatic rally.

Collyn Ballard had a two-run single and Donnie Zimmerman added an RBI single to get the Cardinals within two. Then a pair of bases-loaded walks tied the game and Weidner ended it by lining a 1-2 pitch into left field for the game-winning walk-off single.

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