HELENA — Will Lyng pondered his postgame, celebratory meal, clutching the game ball from his most recent achievement with the sun on his back and a smile on his face.
If it’s local eatery Shellie’s, it’s probably a breakfast burrito for the Helena Capital graduate and Beloit College commit, and to really live, the lanky righty considered ordering all three meats (ham, bacon, sausage) inside his entrée.
Those ingredients work in a harmony similar to Lyng’s fastball, slider, and two-seamer, offerings Lyng wrapped together to no-hit the Laurel Dodgers in a 9-1 five-inning Keith Sell Tournament Championship Game victory Sunday.
Helena captured its fourth consecutive tournament victory and ninth total in the 29-year history of an event meant to honor the program’s former coach, general manager, and do-everything man.
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“That was a fun one,” Lyng said, noting the baseball in his left hand would join a couple others in his Senators locker as a keepsake.
Lyng retired the final 13 batters he faced Sunday, shaking off a first-inning walk and run-scoring E7 to toss his second five-inning no-no of the season (May 25), but first at Kindrick Legion Field.
“Everything was working well,” Senators catcher Connor Devine said. “He was hitting his spots, he wasn’t missing over the plate…
… and do it in this way, is always good.”
Beatty, Helena’s RBI leader, flashed the mitt at second base in the championship.
A ‘0’ gleaming in the visitor’s scoreboard stat line, Beatty charged a fifth-inning swinging bat off the bat of Laurel’s Kyle Berube. Recognizing time was running out, Beatty glove-flipped the ball to Carter Perlinski at first, recording what would be the final out of Lyng’s no-hitter.