Soldo’s 7th-inning hit advances E. Palestine

Springfield came up one-run short in the district semifinal.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

STRUTHERS — Bryan Soldo ripped a line-drive single to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning to drive in Taylor Snyder with the winning run as East Palestine slipped past Springfield 10-9 Thursday night in the Division III district semifinals at Cene Park.

The Bulldogs (18-4) had built a big lead with a eight-run fourth inning and led the Tigers 9-4 after Springfield had taken a 4-0 early lead.

The Tigers (20-7) came back with four runs in the seventh inning to tie the game, before the Bulldogs won it in the final at-bat.

Soldo got the winning hit off Springfield’s ace pitcher, Todd Kibby, who came on in the fourth inning in relief of starter Mark Mariner.

Key at-bat

He had struck out the first time he faced so Soldo was just looking to get the bat on the ball in the seventh.

“I wasn’t looking for anything special, just trying to hit it somewhere,” Soldo said.

“This was the first time I faced him, since I wasn’t batting when we played them before. It was my first game-winning hit also.”

The Tigers wasted little time in getting to the Bulldogs starter Nick Baiamonte as they scored four runs in the top of the first inning.

They loaded the bases on two singles and a walk before Kibby drilled a double down the right-field line scoring two runs.

The Bulldogs helped out with two errors on the same play as Springfield score twice more, one on a sacrifice fly by Bryan Visingardi and the second on the error.

Huge outburst

After East Palestine cut the lead to 4-1, they appeared to break open the game in the fourth when they sent 11 batters to the plate, had four hits and were helped out by three Springfield errors.

Kibby came on with the bases loaded and promptly hit the first two batters he faced and then gave up a two-run single.

The Tigers never gave up and came back strong in the seventh against reliever Dan Handt.

Springfield sent 10 batters to the plate and Bryan Visingardi and Matt Semach each had big hits with the bases full, Semach’s a double.

In the bottom of the seventh, Snyder led off with a single, was sacrificed to second, stole third and with two outs scored on Soldo’s shot into left.

The Bulldogs will meet Woodridge in today’s championship game at 5 p.m.

mollica@vindy.com