YOUR AD HERE »

Season ends perfectly

G. Sean Kelly
Post Independent Sports Editor
Thomas Webber Photo/Special to the Post Independent
ALL |

Talk about a stable of pitchers.

New Castle pitchers Alex Haynes, Kyle Bond and Austin Oeltjenbruns gave up just three hits in three games to win the 13- to 15-year-old division of the seven-team City Recreational League tournament last week in Rifle.

New Castle went unbeaten in the tournament and finished the summer campaign with a perfect 17-0 mark.



Haynes capped the tournament on Saturday with a no-hitter in the championship game, a five-inning, 13-0 victory. It was the second victory over Aspen in the tournament.

After a bye in the first round, New Castle downed Aspen 14-0 with an outstanding pitching performance from Oeltjenbruns. Oeltjenbruns had six strikeouts and gave up two hits in the game.



Not to be outdone, New Castle’s third ace, Bond, blanked Rifle 10-0 while giving up one hit and tallying 10 strikeouts.

The season marks a dramatic turnaround from three years ago, when head coach Mark Bintliff and assistant Shane McCrary took over the team.

“The first year we took over the team we won one game,” McCrary said. “We taught them the fundamentals and they just built themselves into a phenomenal baseball team ” unstoppable.”

The pitching was obviously solid for New Castle, but the bats weren’t quiet either, with 37 runs in three games.

“We’ve got some guys who can just swing the bat and run the bases,” McCrary said.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Glenwood Springs and Garfield County make the Post Independent’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.