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WALK-OFF WALK
Roth Brothers plate three in 7th, outlast DuraEdge
STRUTHERS
The Roth Brothers Class B baseball team had more errors than runs and hits combined entering the final half inning.
So, naturally, Roth beat DuraEdge on a walk-off walk.
“A win is a win,” Roth Bros. manager Matt McGivern said, following his team’s 3-2 victory on Friday. “I would’ve loved to see somebody smack a nice base hit or even get a sac fly when we had one out, but a win’s a win in the scorebook and it feels much better going into tomorrow with a 1-0 lead.”
Game two of the best-of-three semifinal series is today at Cene Park.
Game one was all DuraEdge until the seventh inning.
Jack Lynch (Cardinal Mooney) doubled on the first pitch from Dan Boerio (Boardman) to lead off the bottom half of the inning, trailing 2-0. Ray Belchick (Norwin) hit a comebacker to Boerio for the first out of the inning.
After that, Boerio had trouble finding the strike zone. He walked pinch hitter Vito Penza (Ursuline) and No. 9 hitter John Medvec (Struthers) to load the bases with one out. Josh Fristik (East Palestine) took a 2-2 pitch from Boerio and sent it just over the outstretched glove of second baseman Anthony Calcagni (Poland), scoring two runs to tie the game.
“We just kept fighting, and fighting, and fighting,” Fristik said. “We knew if we could stay close we would have a chance at the end.”
Roth wasn’t satisfied with just evening the score. And Boerio continued to have trouble locating. After intentionally walking the next batter to load the bases with still only one out, Jon Pingree (Norwin) hit a ground ball to third baseman Dom Lipari (Poland), who threw home to get the force out.
Roth Brothers cleanup hitter Anthony Armstrong (Cardinal Mooney) had the game on his bat with a full count and the bases loaded — although he wisely kept the bat on his shoulder as he watched ball four go by him to force in the winning run.
“We battled like crazy. They had a lot of guys on [base] all through the game.,” McGivern said. “[Pitcher Luke Kelty] battled, kept the runs off.
“We got a resilient team and the team picked him up and rewarded him for battling so hard today.”
Kelty (Canfield) gave up two runs on seven hits over seven innings, although his father, first base coach Tim, wasn’t there to see him earn the win. That’s because he was thrown out of the game in the top of the sixth inning by the home plate umpire.
DuraEdge scored both of its runs in the sixth inning on RBI singles from Lipari and Nathan Sommers (Heartland Christian). Boerio’s final pitching line was 6 2/3 innings with three runs on four hits.