DIVISION I BASEBALL Fitch knocks off Garfield Hts., 4-3

Elliot Endsley's hard smash drove home the winning run.
By BILL SULLIVAN
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
STRUTHERS -- Elliot Endsley wasn't a starter when the season began but the Austintown Fitch High senior hit his place into the lineup.
Thursday, in a Division I district semifinal baseball game at Cene Park, Endsley led the Falcons to a 4-3 win over Garfield Heights in eight innings.
Today at Cene Park at 5:30 p.m. the Falcons (16-10) will meet Boardman for the district title. The schools split two games during the regular season.
The Bulldogs (16-4-1) scored a run in the top of the seventh inning to tie the score at 3-all and wipe out a 3-1 fifth-inning Fitch advantage.
The Falcons didn't panic, but rather continued to execute the little things that put them into their first district final in a decade.
"If you make the plays that you're supposed to make in high school, you're going to be all right," Fitch coach Wally Ford said.
"We've been doing that the last couple weeks of the season; we've been playing real solid fundamentals."
The scene
With one out in the bottom of the eighth and the score tied, Fitch sophomore John Mang singled for the second time and advanced to second base on a wild pitch.
Sophomore Mike Elisio got his second single to place Mang on third and bring Endsley, the designated hitter, to the plate.
Endsley, who doubled home a run in the fourth inning, hit a hard smash to shortstop that drove home Mang with the winning run.
"All I was really trying to do is put it in play," said Endsley. "I just got the bat on the ball luckily."
Ford was impressed with Endsley's maturity at the plate.
"Elliot's really come on," said Ford. "He waited his time -- didn't start the season as a starter, he worked his way in that DH spot and he's been hitting the ball."
Tough defense
The Falcons turned in a couple of impressive defensive plays, including a throw from right fielder Mickey Howley to catcher Shane Roach to end the sixth inning.
"What a big play," said Ford of the strike. "They get what looks like the tying run at that time and to throw guys out on the bases, that's huge.
"They get a hit and we get an out, out of it."
Howley, who singled in the sixth, said his team practices the play, which cut down a Bulldog baserunner.
"I just fielded it cleanly and made as strong a throw as I could to throw him out," he said.
Another defensive gem came in the sixth when the Bulldogs put two runners on base with no outs and bunted the ball to Fitch pitcher Brian Sterling.
He alertly threw out the lead runner at third.
Still another stop came in the third, after Garfield Heights loaded the bases with two outs. Fitch shortstop Bob Melnek went hard to his left to field a ground ball and had to dive to second base to end the inning.
sullivan@vindy.com