CRESTVIEW Error and hits secure victory

South Range failed to turn a double steal into a score.
COLUMBIANA -- Andy Walton hit an early homer and his teammates added three insurance runs Thursday as the Crestview High baseball team topped South Range, 6-2 in an opening-round Division III tournament game.
Walton's three-run shot came in the second inning. With two teammates on via singles, Walton found himself down in the count 0-2, before clubbing the ball deep over the left field fence.
"It was a fastball on the outside half of the plate," Walton said.
"And actually I was sitting on a curve. But he threw a fastball that I liked."
Crestview coach Rick Gates said, "Andy's homer took a lot of the pressure off of [pitcher Greg] Brown and put us in the right frame of mind. I was surprised that with two strikes that he got that good of a cut."
Brown made few mistakes in going six and one-third innings. Brown yielded four hits in improving to 4-2. He struck out 10.
"Brown kept us off balance and froze us with his fastball," South Range coach Dan Szolek said.
"At times, we were really confused."
Brown echoed Gates, saying, "I knew Andy was going to get a big hit. That took all the weight in the world off my shoulders."
Thanks to a double by Ben Detwiler, South Range cut the lead to 3-1 in the fourth frame.
Unorthodox way to score
The Raiders used an unusual play in the next inning to make it 3-2. With runners on first and third, South Range's Tom DeChellis was picked off first but had the presence of mind to stay hung up until teammate Joel Melnick scored from third.
An inning later, the Raiders tried to tie the game by attempting a double steal.
South Range had runners at the corners with the runner from first successfully stealing.
But Detwiler, who turned in an overall fine game, was gunned down trying to score.
Down 3-2 in the sixth inning, South Range had runners on first and second with none out. The Raiders went for the big inning instead of the bunt.
"We had our number five guy [Eugene Leson] up and he's been hitting well all year and leading us in homers," Szolek said. "I just didn't want to take the bat out of his hands."
In the seventh, Crestview (10-7) used three hits, a passed ball and an error to put the game away with three more runs.
For Crestview it was a big win coming just a day after a loss to Columbiana cost them a chance to grab a share of the lead in the Tri-County League.
"These kids were really down coming home from that game," Gates said.
"And it's hard to bounce back. So we told before the game that this was like the start of a new season."