NEW LONDON — Memphis Watson is a threat every time he reaches first base.

The New London High School senior is third in Class 1A with 41 stolen bases this season, a school record.

Watson is pretty effective on the mound, as well.

Watson pitched six innings, allowing one earned run, and went 3-for-4 at the plate and stole three bases as the Tigers rallied for a 4-1 victory over Wapello in a Class 1A district quarterfinal game Saturday at the New London Ball Fields.

New London (14-9) advances to a district semifinal to face Notre Dame (16-9) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at New London.

Wapello, which lost the previous meeting with New London by 10 runs, ends the season with a 2-17 record.

Watson showed he can not only beat a team with his legs, but also with his arm.

“We just have to play the game. Do what we do. Hit balls. Make plays,” Watson said.

“Memphis is great. He throws a lot of strikes,” New London coach Jayden Flowers said. “They’re going to hit the ball. It’s not like we’re going to send him out there to strike everybody out. He did a fantastic job of battling all night and battling back. When we can make plays behind him, we look pretty good. He did a fantastic job tonight on the mound.”

Wapello struck first with a run in the top of the first inning. Kinnick Richenberger singled, advanced to second on a ground out by Jaxon Marshall and scored on a two-out single to right field by Wyatt Marlette.

Kolton Small followed with a walk and Cully Fry singled to load the bases before Watson got Wyatt Strawhacker to tap back to the mound to end the threat.

“We started off the first inning with some good hits and got a run. We started off with a bang and held them scoreless,” Wapello coach Michael Horton said.

Marlette and the Indians held New London in check for three innings. The Tigers stranded five base runners through the first three innings.

“We’ve been off to some slow starts recently. We’re trying to get that figured out,” Flowers said. “The bats have been a little slow at the start of games, but once we see a guy once or twice, then we start going. We’re just trying to take advantage of that. In the early innings we have to start taking advantage. We can’t fall behind in those early innings.”

New London finally broke through, scoring three runs in the fourth inning. Gage Burden walked and Riley Raines beat out a bunt.

Horton then brought in Treyton Shull to relieve Marlette.

“Wyatt  pitched Monday, so I had him on a pitch count, which sucks for us. But he was on a pitch count of 70 pitches. He did his job,” Horton said.

Burden scored on a balk before Sully Barron slapped a single to left field to score Raines with the eventual winning run. Pinch runner Owen Nehring scored on a passed ball to make it 3-1.

“The fourth inning we just had a couple small errors that cost us,” Horton said. “Treyton came in and I was at 85 pitches with him because he pitched earlier in the week. Treyton did a great job. He just missed the strike zone a couple times. With a team like (New London) you can’t give them easy bases. They’re going to hit the ball and they’re going to score runs. They’re a good team.”

The Tigers added an insurance run in the fifth. Burden drew a one-out walk, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an infield single by Raines.

Watson shut down Wapello from there with relief help in the seventh from Kye Reighard.

“Once you go through it once, you already know what they can do. Once you know the umpire’s call, you can just focus on that,” Watson said. “I wasn’t worried at all. I have confidence in the guys. They can all put the ball in play. They can all make things happen. One through nine, I wouldn’t say we have a weak spot.”

Richenberger went 3-for-3 to lead the Indians, who graduate two senior starters.

“I think we proved to a lot of people that we should have won a few more games this year,” Horton said. “I’m extremely proud. They beat us, 10-0, early in the year. The way we played tonight was a complete 180. I can’t ask for anything more than that.”

New London advances to face Notre Dame for the third time this season. The teams split the previous two meetings.

“Notre Dame is a great team,” Flowers said. “We have to come to play. We can’t fall asleep in those early innings against teams like that. We have to come ready to go. I think we’ll be ready for it.”