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Poland 11-year-old stars celebrate return to state
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
BOARDMAN
Pitcher Dan Klase couldn’t hide his enthusiasm after striking out a Boardman batter to end the game and give Poland a 9-3 District 2 Little League victory and a return trip to the state tournament.
Klase pumped his fist and joined his teammates in celebration after Poland’s 11-year-olds captured the district championship at the Fields of Dreams behind Klase’s three-hit, six-strikeout performance.
Poland won the 10-year-old district title last year with most of the same players who will now advance to the 11-year-old state tournament in Defiance on July 31.
“It felt great to help my team get the win and get back to the state tournament,” said Klase. “We knew [Boardman] was a tough team because we already played them in this tournament. We were confident that we could beat them again.”
Poland manager Eric Glosser said he was thrilled with his team’s performance but admitted that there is still a lot of work to be done.
“I’m excited for the boys,” Glosser said. “It feels great right now but we have to continue to play well with the state tournament on the horizon.
“We took this same group of boys except for two players to state last year and we got knocked out right away. We’re hoping that experience will help us out this time around.”
This Poland team showed plenty of offensive firepower as all nine starters had at least one hit and six of the players each had an RBI.
“That says a lot about our team,” Glosser said. “These boys can absolutely pound the baseball from top to bottom. They can really hit and we have confidence in every one of them all the way through the lineup and even our subs.”
Nick Petrolla powered the offense when he blasted a monster home run to left-center field to start off the sixth inning.
“That hit felt great,” said Petrolla. “But we are more happy about beating Boardman and getting back to state.”
However, it was Paul O’Shaugnessy, who had two doubles in the game, who started the winning rally for Poland.
With the score tied at 2-2 after four innings, O’Shaugnessy led off the fifth with his second two-bagger of the game and came around to score the go-ahead run on a ground ball to short off the bat of Klase.
Klase and David Watson came around to score on an RBI single by Alex Wollet and an RBI triple by Tony Chiaro which gave Poland a 6-2 lead.
After Boardman got a run back in the bottom of the fifth inning on a Jared Jay double and an RBI groundout by Chris Dailey, Poland put the game away in the sixth with three more runs.
After Petrolla’s homer, Klase had a double and scored on a triple by Dylan Kurcon. Poland’s final run came home an RBI single by Watson.
“It was a great game by two good teams,” Glosser said.
Boardman had made a game of it when it tallied two runs off of Klase in the fourth inning to tie the game.
J.R Ryan, son of former Boardman quarterback standout John Ryan, tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right field.
“Poland did a great job of putting bats on the ball,” said Boardman coach Dave Perham. “That’s why they are champions and I think our boys have the same qualities but give them credit because they played better today.”