NOTRE DAME WHIFFS, CRACKS WAY INTO 2A DISTRICT FINAL

CHAFFEE -- Chaffee starter Matt Stroup didn't have any problem striking out Notre Dame's batters.

But Notre Dame's batters didn't have any trouble hitting Matt Stroup.

Notre Dame clobbered Chaffee 10-0 in five innings Wednesday to advance to the Class 2A, District 2 finals where it will play Kelly today at 4 p.m.

But the game was as unusual as it was lopsided.

Of the 12 outs that Stroup recorded, 11 of them were by strikeout. Every Notre Dame batter fanned at least once, but every batter had at least one hit.

When Notre Dame's hitters weren't slamming their helmets against the dugout fence in disgust, they were ripping the baseball to all fields. The Bulldogs (22-3) pounded out 14 hits, scoring four in the first and second innings, one in the fourth and one in the fifth.

Tommy Wencewicz, Josh Eftink, Matt Bollinger and starting pitcher Brian Obermann each had two hits apiece.

Notre Dame left fielder Nathan Essner, who put Chaffee out of its misery in the fifth inning on a double that plated the 10th run, summed it up best: "If you would've said we were going to come out and strike out 11 times and still win, I would've said no way. There's no way that we should have won 10-0."

"We told the kids before the game that if he (Stroup) strikes out 10 batters, then we're done," Notre Dame coach Chris Neff said. "That tells you how much we know."

Although Notre Dame made solid contact on several occasions, the Bulldogs benefited from some bloop and infield hits.

And Chaffee's defense didn't give Stroup much support, either. The Red Devils (17-5) made just two fielding errors, but made a handful of other miscues such as missing cutoff men, not applying quick tags and not handling the ball cleanly. The Red Devils didn't run the bases well either.

"We just didn't make the plays," said Chaffee coach Bruce Qualls. "We were about 0-for-8 or 0-for-9 on the plays that we should have made, but didn't. We knew coming in that we were going to have to score some runs. Obermann threw an excellent game and we were tentative at the plate."

Obermann wasn't as dominating in the strike out department -- he fanned five -- but threw a gem nonetheless.

The left-hander allowed just three hits and three walks.

He, unlike Stroup, was backed up by nearly flawless defense. The Bulldogs made one error, but looked sharp with the leather.

Center fielder Tommy Wencewicz laid out for a diving catch on a sharply hit ball in the third inning. Two batters later, Notre Dame right fielder Todd Friend gunned down speedster Tommy Stidham, who was trying to go from first to third on a single.

The Bulldogs will look for such defense today when they take on the Hawks. Kelly was the only team in the immediate area to beat Notre Dame this season. Kelly will throw Jim Hulshof and Notre Dame will go with Mark Ostendorf.

"It's going to be wild," Neff said. "There will be two good pitchers going. It's going to be awesome. If Ostendorf throws his curveball well, they're done. But any time he hangs it, he gets rocked. But if he hangs it, here comes Josh (Eftink)."