West Allis NATIONALS Baseball

The Nationals' Matt Soderlund scored the game's only run and the Nationals escaped Kenosha with 1-0 victory and a leg up in the Langsdorf League Best-of-Three Championship Series.

The Nationals scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 13th inning when Soderlund drew a leadoff walk, stole second base and scored on a two-out, RBI single by Nick Lingvay.

The four-time defending Langsdorf champion Kings put runners at first and second with two outs in the bottom half of the inning only to come up empty once again, ending the game on a strikeout from Joe Ferro.

Jimmy Jungbauer pitched ten scoreless innings for the Nationals before giving way to rookie Adam Widder who threw the final three to secure his first Nationals victory.

Randy Johnson took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and tossed eight scoreless innings in a no-decision.  Jason Bunton (3-4) took the loss with five innings of relief.

Both teams had several scoring opportunities earlier in the contest, but pitchers stepped up with timely strikeouts with men in scoring position to defuse the rallies.

“It just came down to who was going to get the clutch hit,” Kings’ manager Tim Pulizzano said. “They were the ones that had it.”

Johnson allowed just two hits and finished with two walks and eight strikeouts. The right-hander allowed back-to-back singles to start the seventh inning — a leadoff blooper and a bunt single — before answering with three straight strikeouts to end the rally.

“We’ve faced (Jungbauer) many times and he’s the type of guy you have to get to early,” Pulizzano said. “When he settles in, this is what he has the potential to do. There were four great pitching performances (from both starters and relievers) and it was a case of two teams standing toe-to-toe. I don’t think you’ve seen the last of us.”

With Jungbauer out of the game, the Kings appeared to be on the verge of ending the marathon. Mark Cibrario and John Hasser led off with back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners with no outs. After Pinch hitter Jason Acevedo struck out on three pitches, Kyle Frye fouled off a first-pitch, suicide squeeze attempt and then hit a weak dribbler to short that forced Cibrario into a pickle.

Cibrario was tagged out for the second out of the inning and Ferro struck out on a called check swing to end the rally.

Game two of the three-game series is scheduled 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Zirkel Field in West Allis. A potential third and deciding game is slated for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Simmons Field.