TURNER – The game was only a couple batters old and Scott Witherell was already wondering what kind of evening it was going to be.

“I was just thinking it was going to be a long game,” said the Andy Valley pitcher.

He had given up a long lead-off triple. After a walk and an error, Locke Mills was threatening to break open Tuesday’s American Legion opener before it hardly began.

Witherell managed to limit the damage to one run in that inning, and it wasn’t the only jam he survived. Locke Mills had runners at second in third in the seventh, before Witherell finished the game with a strike out to give Andy Valley a 3-1 victory.

“He was throwing the ball well,” said Andy Valley coach Jeff Gilbert. “I was very impressed.”

Witherell gave up just four hits and struck out nine batters.

“He threw well,” said Locke Mills coach Chris Olson. “We had our chances early and couldn’t break it open, and it came back to haunt us.”

Karl Olson led off the game with a triple to deep center. After a walk, a Cory Wing grounder was mishandled, allowing Olson to score.

“The best think you can do is try to keep throwing strikes,” said Witherell. “That first inning my curveball wasn’t doing anything. I just tried to hit my spots with my fastball.”

Though Locke Mills got another baserunner on after a one out error, it left the bases loaded. Witherell struck out the next two batters.

“To only get the one out of it, that hurt,” said Olson. “We couldn’t do anything more.”

Andy Valley didn’t do much against Wing early on and managed just four hits overall. Mike Chamard produced the first hit in the fourth. In the fifth, Andy Valley got most of its offense and took a 2-1 lead.

With two outs, Jamie Brewer singled. Brandon Smith followed with a triple.

“I was going to send him to steal, but we had Smitty up at the plate,” said Gilbert. “He usually makes contact. You sometimes don’t want to take the bat out of a kids hands.”

Witherell followed with a grounder deep into the hole at short. Olson made a play on it and tried to throw him out but the throw was wide.

“I knew it was going to be a close play,” said Witherell. “I ran hard hoping he’d make a bad throw.”

Andy Valley added a run in the sixth when Chamard reached on an error. He eventually came around on a Jacob McAllister bloop single.

“That was a good at bat,” said Gilbert. “It was a real challenge by the pitcher. He fought off a good curveball. That was a big run.”

Locke Mills still had a threat left in them. Olson reached on an error in the seventh. Travis Brooks was hit by a pitch. After a force to get Brooks at second, Wing advanced on a wild pitch giving Locke Mills runners at second and third. Anthony Liberti, the clean up hitter, had the count full, but chased some high heat.

“You could tell he was anxious as hell,” said Witherell. “So I figured I give him a high fastball and gamble. We still had an open base and his run didn’t matter. The kid behind him, I don’t think he did that great against me the at bat before.”

Locke Mills left nine runners on base.

“We had who we wanted to have up – Wing and Liberti,” said Olson. “If we can get those guys up with runners on base, that’s going to be big, but they’ve got to come through.”