Photo by Chris Drummond: Granite Falls Kilowatts Cody Dahlager squares up a pitch to hit in the first round of the Region 9C playoffs against the Sacred Hearts Saints on Friday evening

GRANITE FALLS — The No. 5 Granite Falls Kilowatts made a costly error that had them drop a home playoff contest to the No. 8 Sacred Heart Saints 2-1 on Friday evening. With the loss, the Kilowatts season comes to an end.

Nikson Knapper started the game for the Kilowatts and had four strikeouts through the first two innings. However, outside of a Ty Schulte single, Granite Falls couldn’t get any runners on base.

The Sacred Heart Saints got a runner on base in the third inning due to an error by the Kilowatts but couldn’t get that run across either and after three complete innings, the score was still tied 0-0.

In the top of the fourth, that would change as Jeremy Hinderks hit an opposite-field home run to break the tie score and put the Saints up 1-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth.

The Saints kept this lead until the bottom of the sixth inning when Bennett Knapper hit an RBI single to tie the game up at one all heading into the seventh inning.

Both starters pitched incredible games. Jack Howard of the Saints threw 138 pitches and only allowed one run. Nikson Knapper had 108 pitches and only allowed one run as well. Bennett Knapper was at the plate in the bottom of the eighth with a runner aboard and drew a walk, putting runners on the corners with two outs.

The Kilowatts only had five hits but the next batter coming up was Schulte, who had one of the five hits. However, Schulte would ground out and end the inning with both teams still tied 1-1.

In the top of the ninth, Nikson Knapper gave up a base hit and walked a batter to put two runners on with no outs. The very next pitch was a wild pitch and the Saints runners moved to second and third with no outs. After a fielder’s choice groundout at home, Granite Falls had one out with Sacred Heart having runners on the corners.

Hinderks came up to bat again and hit a soft ground ball up the middle and an error was made by the Kilowatts, allowing the second run of the game for the Saints and would take that lead into the bottom of the ninth needing three outs to advance.

“Bennett Knapper was trying to make a play and all his momentum was going towards first base,” Richter said. “We’re playing for the double play ball and he was trying to make a play. If he does that, nine times out of 10 he makes that play. Obviously, that gave them a lot of momentum. Hats off to them. We battled but we just didn’t come up with key hits when we needed it.

Bryce Sneller led off the inning with a single to right field. Bennett Knapper sacrificed to advance Sneller to second base with one out. Howard was masterful for Sacred Heart and ended up striking out the next two batters to seal the victory and advance.

“Both Howard and Nikson Knapper pitched well enough to win the game,” Richter said. “They just came out on the right end of it. It was one of those games where it was a pitching duel and Howard pitched a heck of a game. We had a group of guys here that played for each other. We competed in a very tough league. We have a very good foundation, a very good young team. The postgame message is to use this as a learning tool. The young guys have to understand that a couple of plays can make the difference in the playoffs.”

The Granite Falls Kilowatts finish their season with an 8-9 record.