Home Talent: Poynette falls to Columbus in league opener

The preliminaries are over. Now, the games count for real.

After edging Columbus 4-3 in the final exhibition game on Wednesday, May 15, in a walk-off win, the Poynette Home Talent team opened the league season with a 12-9 loss to Columbus on Sunday, May 19.

Four different Poynette players had hits in the exhibition victory, as Carter Hansen laid down a suicide squeeze bunt to score Garrett Thurston for the winning run. Jake Keller had an RBI single in the second inning and later hit a sacrifice fly to drive in a run. Joel Thimsen had an RBI single in the seventh inning for Poynette. Ian Nowell got the win on the mound, pitching a scoreless inning with a walk and a strikeout. Andy Knuteson tossed four innings, allowing no earned runs while fanning three and walking two.

“The guys did a good job of executing when we needed, and some clutch hitting,” said Davy Tomlinson, the team’s head coach.

In a high-scoring affair on Sunday, Poynette mounted a furious seventh-inning rally, plating seven runs, but it fell short.

Nowell drove in three runs and Dacota Potter scored two runs. Riley Radewan was saddled with the loss on the mound, giving up 10 earned runs on 10 hits, while walking six and striking out three.

Tomlinson and Potter collected two hits apiece.

“It was a rough start, but the guys really hung in there and kept battling,” said Tomlinson. “I’m happy with how they keep fighting to the end. We made a great run at it, but it turned out to be just too little, too late.”

Poynette is now 0-1 in Eastern Section league play, 0-0 in Night League, 2-1 in exhibition play and 2-2 overall.

On Sunday, Poynette hosts DeForest, before welcoming Waterloo on Monday.