Canfield 11-12 team stays alive

By Gary Housteau

sports@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

With its Little League State Tournament life on the line, Canfield wasted no time Saturday at Fields of Dreams.

Canfield used a crushing five-run first inning on its way to an 11-7 victory over Maumee to set a up a rematch with Hamilton West Side at noon today.

Colin Burdette provided the big blow with a three-run home run over the 214 mark in center field to put Canfield up 4-0 early. Drew Croce opened the scoring for Canfield when he doubled home Tony Pannunzio from first to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. Ryan Bennett scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-0 Canfield in the opening inning.

“We came out and the bats were hot, we hit a three-run homer in the first inning and that set the tone for the rest of the day,” said Canfield manager Kevin Burdette, Colin’s father.

Canfield added two more runs in the second courtesy of Colin Burdette once again when he tripled in a run and then scored himself on an errant throw to third base. Pannunzio sent Nate Shaw home from second after he doubled to start the third inning for an 8-0 lead.

But in the bottom half of the third, when Canfield replaced starting pitcher Ryan Petro after two scoreless and very efficient innings, Maumee started to find some offense. A two-run single off of Burdette, who pitched the third, cut the deficit to 8-2.

But Canfield scored three times in the top of the fourth for an 11-2 lead.

Pannunzio, who had three hits, socked a two-run triple to highlight that rally.

But Canfield did not score again.

Maumee added three runs in the fourth and two more, on a two-run homer, in the sixth to close out the scoring off multiple Canfield pitchers. Kevin Burdette obviously had one eye looking forward to the finals when it came to his pitching substitutions.

“We had every pitcher available for today and we went in to today planning to have every pitcher available for tomorrow against Hamilton,” Burdette said. “I can’t stress enough the three-run homer in the first inning was the key. Right away we’re up 3-0 and that makes my decision with Petro — I started Petro, he’s been hot, he’s been one of our best pitchers — but we were able to pull him out with a (7-0) lead knowing we had a lot more arms to follow him. So the game plan that we came in with, we executed it perfectly and the runs on the board helped us do that.”

Colin Burdette, who went 3 for 4 with, was obviously very happy to have helped his dad execute the team’s game plan to perfection.

“I was really excited — that was my second one of the tournament. It felt great,” he said. “I was just looking to get on [base], nothing special or anything.”

But it was indeed a special game for the Burdette family.

“My son Colin, a three-run homer and he almost had the cycle in a game like this, that’s one you remember when you’re 90 years old,” Kevin said. “I’m glad he and I got to share that together. It was a wonderful experience.”

It wasn’t exactly easy however as that fast start turned into a hard-fought victory in 90-degree temperatures.

“When you get to this level no matter what color jersey you’re playing or what team name is across the front of that jersey, you know you’re going to play a quality opponent,” Kevin Burdette said. “I tip my cap to Maumee today, they fought hard. You don’t win that many games coming through the loser’s bracket without being a tough, gritty bunch and they were exactly that.

“We were ready for that, we knew that we had to keep tacking runs on as the game went and our pitchers needed to execute and throw strikes and that’s what we did today. It was a great team win today.”

Canfield has a chance to avenge a 2-0 loss to Hamilton on Tuesday. Petro gave up three hits in four innings on the mound in that game.

“You have to approach it a little different,” Burdette said. “We’re playing to win the next game, we have to win the next game. So, yeah, there’s a little different approach. The big goal was to get here without a loss and we didn’t do that, but we’re here. It’s our third year in a row in a state championship game. We have all of our pitchers available. The kids believe and I believe we’re going to bring it tomorrow. We’re ready. Hopefully we’re playing a doubleheader.”

Canfield must beat Hamilton twice to win the state championship.

“We absolutely have to win the first game tomorrow so it’s going to be a one game [at a time) approach with pitchers,” Burdette said. “We’ll game plan after Game 1 if we’re fortunate enough to get that far. Can’t worry about game two until Game 1 is over.”