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Canfield must win 3 times this weekend to win state
By charles grove
boardman
In a matchup of the two previous state champions, Hamilton West Side took a tight 2-0 contest from Canfield to advance to Sunday’s championship game in the Little League state tournament.
Hamilton, winners of 14 state titles since 2002, scraped together both runs in the third inning thanks to some costly fielding mistakes. Defensively, Hamilton held off rally after rally to take a giant step towards the regional tournament.
Canfield’s Ryan Petro tossed four innings of three-hit ball, striking out two. However, Hamilton’s Maddox Pennington went all six innings and struck out seven Canfield batters while working around four hits and three walks.
“We did an A-plus job in the pitching department,” Canfield manager Kevin Burdette said. “We only gave up three hits against one of the best hitting teams in the state.”
The third-inning hole Canfield dug themselves into was too much. Hamilton didn’t look to be seriously threatening with a runner on first and two outs but Pennington laced a hard single to right field which got by Canfield’s Christopher Altiere and scored Cayden Evans.
The next batter hit a ground ball that Canfield first baseman Colin Burdette tried to throw to Petro covering first. But the ball got away and Pennington scored to double Hamilton’s lead.
While Canfield didn’t score, it wasn’t for a lack of chances. Canfield immediately put the first two runners on in the fourth inning on a single by Tony Pannunzio and a walk by Drew Carroce.
Pinch-hitter Gianni Gaetano then hit a sharp liner to second baseman Braedyn Moore who quickly threw to second base to get the force out on a bang-bang play. A groundout the next at-bat ended Canfield’s chance.
“He’s just a bear for us,” Hamilton manager Tim Nichting said of Moore. “He’s only 11 and he can cover some ground. He’s got some good hands on him and we don’t expect anything other than him to make some big plays for us.”
After Petro shut down Hamilton in order in the fourth, Canfield got right back to putting runners on base in the fifth. Jake Grdic reached on an infield single to lead off the inning and after a Toby Smith walk and a passed ball, Canfield had runners at second and third with no outs.
But Petro struck out looking, Nick Hewko grounded into a 5-2 fielder’s choice and Nate Shaw struck out as Hamilton danced right out of danger.
Canfield threatened once more in the sixth. Pannunzio walked to lead off the frame and with one out, Gaetano reached on an infield single. Moore threw the ball away and Gaetano tried to reach second but a quick recovery and he was gunned down.
“The fence is tight over there and it was just a base-running error,” Kevin Burdette said. “He was just following instructions.
“There’s a fine line between winning and losing. It was a mistake on our part that can happen to anybody. It came down to the little things and Canfield didn’t get them done and that was the difference.”
Canfield drops to the losers bracket and needs three wins for a state title, once on Saturday and then potentially a rematch with Hamilton on Sunday where Canfield will need to win two to avoid elimination.
“Everything has to click for you to win a state championship,” Burdette said. “It didn’t for us today but the good news is it’s a double-elimination tournament.”