Boardman routs Canfield for Little League District title
By DAN HINER
BOARDMAN
On Thursday night, Boardman’s 10-year-old baseball team found itself on the wrong end of a 7-5 loss to Canfield. Both teams got another shot at playing each other, but this time around the District 2 championship was on the line.
A 12-run bottom second inning allowed Boardman to pull away with an 18-5 win over Canfield and earn a berth into the state tournament.
“It made me feel good because Canfield beat us last night and we wanted to send them a message tonight,” Boardman’s Gavin Hyde said.
Both offenses got things going in the first inning. Boardman jumped on Canfield after first five batters of the inning reached base on three singles and two doubles. The quick scoring gave Boardman a 5-0 lead.
But Canfield didn’t go away. After the first three batters of the inning walked. Canfield first baseman Stephen Maszczak hit a two-run single to center field to cut the lead to 5-2. After a couple fielder’s choice plays allowed a couple more runs to score, the game was tied at 5-5 entering the top of the second.
Maszczak finished 1-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored.
“I felt pretty good because I knew that (coach Robert Hyde) had confidence in me, even though we had a pretty bad inning there,” Boardman starting pitcher Jack Ericson said. “We shook it off and got more runs and came out with a win.”
In the next inning, Boardman sent 16 batters to the plate in the bottom half of the second. The Spartans batted around Canfield before recording the first out of the inning.
Ericson helped his own cause at the plate by going 2-for-2 with a walk and three runs scored. Gavin Hyde went 1-2 with a single, two walks, two RBIs and three runs scored.
But Boardman didn’t put many balls in play during their run. The team combined to put eight runners on base by way of walk or hit by pitch. There were only four hits in the inning. Boardman head coach Robert Hyde said his team played “disciplined” baseball all game.
“The team has been through adversity before. They definitely don’t let that get them down,” Robert Hyde said. “They were able to battle back and were strong enough from the offensive side with our bats to be able to come back from something like that. Early in the game, being down, there are plenty of innings left…plenty of room to make up for it. They kept their heads in it.”
Robert Hyde said the team has accomplished the goals from the beginning of the season.
“I’m extremely excited. I’m proud of the boys. I just don’t have enough words for it,” Robert Hyde said. “We set out when this team was put together at all-stars with a goal to win districts, find our way to state and see what we do then. We’ve accomplished our goal and now we get to go have fun at state.
“The next step is competing—being competitive at state. Clearly we’re going to see many teams there at are going to be just as good as us, and maybe even better. Being competitive and doing the best that we can, that’s all we want to achieve.
The state tournament will take place in Dover from July 23-30.