{"id":206455,"date":"2026-05-29T21:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T02:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=206455"},"modified":"2026-05-29T21:21:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T02:21:18","slug":"cougars-top-bryan-for-district-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/05\/29\/cougars-top-bryan-for-district-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Cougars top Bryan for district title"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong><em>independent sports<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FORT JENNINGS &#8212; The Van Wert Cougars are bound for the Division IV regional finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The red hot Cougars (15-12), who have gone 8-2 in their last 10 games, have knocked off the top two seeds in the district and captured a district title with Friday\u2019s 6-4 win over second seeded Bryan at Fort Jennings. The win came two days after Van Wert beat No. 1 seed Bath 6-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been fund watching this team improve and mature as the year has progressed,\u201d head coach Charlie Witten said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had many challenges along the way and have done a much better job of handling adversity as the season has progressed. We have improved more mentally than anything else this season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\" src=\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Cam-Werts-5-29-2026-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-206458\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cam Werts blasted a solo home run during Friday&#8217;s Division IV district championship game. <em>Photos courtesy of Monica Campbell<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Van Wert trailed the Golden Bears 1-0 entering the bottom of the second inning but put up four runs in the bottom half of the inning, which proved to be too much for Bryan to overcome. A two-out, bases loaded single by Griffin McCracken plated Alex Benner and Wyatt Scott. The following batter, Finley Dickinson reached first on an error, which also allowed Jace Huebner and McCracken to score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A solo homer to center field by Cam Wert in the third pushed Van&nbsp; Wert\u2019s lead to 5-1. Bryan answered with three runs in the fourth, including a two-run blast by Jacob Uran. However, the Golden Bears had chances but could draw no closer. Bryan had a pair of runners on via back-to-back walks in the fifth, but Easton Putman retired seven straight batters to help preserve the win. Putman went the distance on the mound, allowing six hits, four runs (three earned) with four strikeouts and a pair of walks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McCracken had two of Van Wert\u2019s seven hits and had a team high two RBIs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Van Wert will face Perkins in the regional semifinals at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Bowling Green State University\u2019s Warren Steller Field. Perkins captured the Willard Division IV district title with a 6-0 no-hit win over St. Marys Memorial. The Pirates (21-5) did not allow a run in either district game.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"550\" height=\"365\" src=\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Van-Wert-district-champs-5-2026.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-206457\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports FORT JENNINGS &#8212; The Van Wert Cougars are bound for the Division IV regional finals. The red hot Cougars (15-12), who have gone 8-2 in their last 10 games, have knocked off the top two seeds in the district and captured a district title with Friday\u2019s 6-4 win over second seeded Bryan [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-06 13:13:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206459,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206455\/revisions\/206459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}