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Botched double play sends Canfield to district final
Canfield capitalizes on miscue by Poland in third inning
By DAN HINER
STRUTHERS
The Canfield and Poland baseball teams split the regular season series, so Monday’s tournament game was for bragging rights and a chance to advance to the Division II district final.
The Cardinals and the Bulldogs came in as the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively. The game at Bob Cene Park lived up to its promise, with Canfield winning 2-0 after capitalizing on one Poland mistake.
Canfield scored its runs after Alex Hernandez hit into a potential double play in the bottom of the third inning. The runner was out at second base but the throw to first was high and Hernandez advanced to second. The next batter, Dominic Pilolli followed with an infield single.
Spencer Woolley drove in the first run with an RBI single to left field. Ian McGraw followed with an RBI double to right field.
Poland loaded the bases in the top of the sixth inning, but was unable to take advantage of the opportunity.
Cardinals’ pitcher Jack Rafoth pitched a complete-game shutout, allowing four hits, striking out five and didn’t allow any walks.
“I just went pitch-by-pitch, trying not to throw any balls,” Rafoth said. “I just let my defense play.
“I didn’t try to strike them out all the time, I just threw strikes and they didn’t hit [them].”
Rafoth said he’s consistently had a problem in the first inning this season. Rafoth said he needs to get into the flow of the game and eventually calms down by the second or third inning.
Monday was no different. Rafoth allowed a single and hit a batter with two outs in the first, but he worked out of trouble. After the first inning, Rafoth faced four batters or less in five of the final six innings.
Canfield head coach Matt Koeing said the Cardinals needed to be more aggressive at the plate following the team’s 9-1 loss to Poland earlier in the season.
The Cardinals heard their coach loud and clear. Canfield only had two at-bats reach a full count, and all three of its hits came on the first or second pitch of an at-bat.
“We were never really in the game, in that second game,” Koeing said. “We had a nice talk after that game and said we have to change a couple of our approaches offensively because we’re going to see them again, eventually.”
Poland pitcher Don Drummond allowed both runs, but only gave up three hits and two walks in his 3.1 innings pitched. Vince Garayua relieved Drummond in the fourth inning and retired all eight batters he faced.
Poland first baseman Padraig O’Shaughnessy was the only Bulldog with two hits. Tony Chiaro and Nick Petrolla accounted for Poland’s two remaining hits.
Canfield advances to tonight’s district final against Niles.
Niles is the top seed in the tournament and Koeing said the games will become more challenging the farther the Cardinals advance.
“[Niles is] the number-one seed and they got a lot of momentum,” Koeing said. “Their kid threw a one-hitter today and I know they got a lot of really good pitching on their end. It doesn’t get any easier, that’s for sure.
“We had a very emotional game here today with Poland and tomorrow is gonna be the same because they’re the top seed. And [it’s] well deserved, they deserve to be here. They’ve had a phenomenal year and we’re gonna do our best to try to advance.”