Ballard defeated Perry 16-1 Saturday night in the opening round of the Class 3A District 7 baseball game in Slater.  The game was called in the bottom of the fourth inning via the Iowa High School mercy rule.

Perry pitching struggled to find the strike zone, walking nine batters while hitting two others in a little more than three innings.  The Bombers took full advantage batting around the order in both the second and third innings.  Miles Mudd paced the Ballard offense with 5 RBI’s while Jacob Luster finished with 4 RBI’s and was a homerun away from the cycle.

Perry scored their lone run in the top of the first inning loading the bases following hits by Geren Kenney, Reid Iben and Mason Hayes.  Gabe Beato lifted a sacrifice fly scoring Kenney to plate Perry’s only run of the night.

Ballard improves to 26-8 and will host North Polk Monday night in the District Final.  Perry closes out the season with a mark of 3-24.  Geren Kenney, Owen Myers and Gabe Beato played their final game as Bluejays.  Kenney and Myers finished 3rd and 4th in the Heart of Iowa with high .400 batting averages.  Both finished in the top ten in hitting in Class 3A.  Beato led Perry with 20 RBI’s on the year.