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Trumbull County wins inaugural baseball Classic
By Ryan Buck
NILES
With their high school seasons complete, most of the area’s finest were on display in the 2013 High School Valley All-Star Classic Friday night at Eastwood Field.
While frequent substitutions and lighthearted festivities punctuated much of the contest, competition showed itself late in a tight ball game.
Pinch runner Logan Harrah (Newton Falls) took a walking lead from third base and sprinted home on Alec Rossi’s slow-bouncing chopper gave the Trumbull County All-Stars a 5-4 victory over the standouts from Mahoning.
“Honestly, the base runner had a nice jump,” said Rossi, the Warren JFK product who was behind the plate for Trumbull. “I just got a hit and hoped for the best.”
Trailing 4-3 headed into their final at-bat, Howland’s John-Mark Weisman took a Kane Durkin pitch down the left-field line for a one-out triple to start the Trumbull rally.
Niles’ Ryan Ifft, who had already scored two of his team’s three runs, singled Weisman home to tie the game.
“I knew he was coming out throwing curve balls,” said Ifft, who also threw one scoreless inning of relief to secure MVP honors. “That’s his best pitch. I just sat curve ball and tried to drive it back up the middle.”
The relaxed atmosphere provided excitement at the game’s conclusion.
“We just wanted to come out here, enjoy ourselves, and have a little fun with some friends, not be too tense,” Ifft said.
Harrah came in to run for Ifft and stole second base before Durkin walked both Michael Raschilla (McDonald) and Dan Ferguson (Mineral Ridge) to load the bases for Rossi.
After being held scoreless since the third inning, the one-run deficit in the final at-bat ignited the Trumbull dugout, full of many area standouts who were suiting up one final time.
“We couldn’t do much more,” Rossi said. “We might as well give it our all. Some of us will never play again. After that, we kind of turned it on and started to hit really well. We thought we were the underdogs in this situation and came out on top.
“Mahoning (County), their programs always go farther (in tournament play), and they have bigger schools. Some of the kids are very good there and they go places.”
Weisman and Ifft were also responsible for Trumbull’s opening runs. After Cardinal Mooney catcher Drew Delsignore singled home Canfield outfielder Derek Turocy to give Mahoning a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, the Howland-Niles duo went to work.
Weisman singled to centerfield before Ifft reached base immediately afterwards. Ferguson caught a piece of the first pitch he saw and pounded it into the dirt. The Mineral Ridge standout’s hustle to first induced an errant throw into right field, scoring both Wiesman and Ifft.
Mahoning’s Parker Warren (Western Reserve), came home on a bloop single from Austin Beil (Poland) to tie the game at two an inning later.
Ifft was hit by a pitch and came around to score on a Rossi single to put Trumbull ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the third inning. Turocy’s triple and run on a wild pitch in the top of the fourth inning again tied the game.