New Hampton grinds out ‘W’

 Alex Troyna and his New Hampton baseball team didn’t give a rip about style points on Friday night.All the Chickasaws wanted was a win, and they got it — a gritty 5-4 victory over Crestwood that set up the biggest doubleheader of the year.A night after the Chickasaws saw a 3-1 seventh inning lead turn into a 4-3 loss to Waverly-Shell Rock, New Hampton avoided the proverbial “trap game” — albeit barely.“It wasn’t pretty,” said Troyna whose double to center field in the fifth inning put New Hampton ahead to stay, “but we don’t care. All we wanted tonight was a win, and we found a way.”The Chickasaws did it with a gutty mound performance from Keegan Tenge, who survived six walks to get the complete game win. Tenge was masterful in innings two through six, but Crestwood got two runs in the top of the first and two more in top of the seventh.He escaped more trouble in the first when Troyna to Carter Stochl to Noah Hopp produced a 6-4-3 double play.For the full story, please see the June 28 Tribune.