CENE PARK Summers one-hits Campbell

The Tigers will play Mooney in today's Division III district final.
STRUTHERS -- It seemed inevitable. Springfield High pitcher Luke Summers stood one out away from a no-hitter in a Division III district semifinal contest played at Bob Cene Park.
Fate must have intervened, however, as Lonnie McQueen flared a 2-2 pitch into right field. Summers (9-2), though, struck out the final batter to secure a 5-0 victory.
"It feels good to get the win," Summers said. "Our goal was to take it one inning at a time and to take care of business."
The right-hander struck out six and walked only one in the complete game shutout.
Springfield (19-8) played the game without coach Bob Beam. Beam was ejected in the previous tournament game and was not permitted to be in the dugout. He watched the game from outside the fence on the third base side.
"I have all the confidence in the world in my assistants," Beam said. "We put seven to eight seniors on the field and most of them are three-year starters, so they don't need me. They know what to do out there."
Early lead
Springfield's bats came alive in the second inning. Andrew Sarich led off with a single up the middle. John Houser and Mike Sobnosky followed singles to load the bases. After a strikeout, Mike Kampfer drew a walk that scored Sarich.
"It's always important to get ahead early," Beam said. "It has been our biggest problem this year -- of the eight games we've lost in at least six of them we have been down after the first inning.
With the bases loaded again in the second, Dane Dobson hit a grounder to third that was mishandled, scoring Houser.
Springfield added three more runs in the third. Sarich walked and Houser followed with a single to left. The Tigers loaded the bases when Sobnosky's grounder was mishandled for an error. Julian Caraballo then lined a single to left that scored Sarich and Houser.
Caraballo scored on a RBI single by Dobson later in the inning to make the score 5-0.
"He [McQueen] is definitely a good pitcher; he can beat us on any day," Beam said. "Fortunately for us we got the better of him today."
The five runs were more than enough for Summers who credited his defense in the win.
"They stepped it up today. Joey D'Amato [second baseman] had a great game today," Summers said. "They [Campbell] put a lot of balls in play and we made all the plays we needed to."
Red Devils
Campbell coach Wayne Zetts was disappointed with the loss.
"We got outclassed today, there's no doubt in my mind," he said. "My hat's off to Luke Summers; he pitched a heck of a game."
Springfield will square off against Mooney in the district final today at 5 p.m. at Cene Park. The Tigers lost to Mooney once in the regular season.
"We left a lot of guys on base tonight and luckily it didn't hurt us," Beam said. "But against Mooney we have to figure out a way to get these guys home. It will be interesting to see what happens."
Springfield will be looking to reach the regional for the first time since 1994.