Five-run fifth puts Canfield in district final

May 21, 2019 at 12:00a.m.

Cardinals to face rival Bulldogs while trying to win third title

STRUTHERS

The Canfield Cardinals sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth inning, scoring five times with two outs to turn a 3-2 deficit into an 8-3 victory over the Alliance Aviators in a Division II district semi-final game Monday at Bob Cene Park.

The two-time defending district champions got two hits, a run batted in and run scored from Michael Budde, who also pitched four innings in relief to pick up the win.

“Your success as a pitcher is the great defense behind you and we had that today,” Budde said. “We had quality at-bats the entire game and that was the key.”

The Cardinals (17-5) now advance to Wednesday’s championship game against Poland, an 8-7 winner over Niles McKinley in the other Division II semi-final contest.

Canfield took the early 2-0 lead in the opening inning, sending seven batters to the plate while forcing Aviators’ sophomore ace Gavin Bruni, an early Ohio State commit, to labor through a 30-pitch inning.

Brayden Beck’s triple plated Ricky Havrilla with the game’s initial tally with Havrilla scoring a batter later on a dropped third strike.

Bruni entered the game having allowed just one earned run — and five runs overall — in 42.3 innings of work for a 0.16 ERA.

Beck, who scored twice and had two RBIs, knew how stingy Bruni was when he toes the rubber.

“We knew what we were in for with Gavin on the hill,” Beck said. “We saw a lot of good arms over the course of the season that prepared us for today and knew that we had to be aggressive with our bats. We’re the two-time defending district champions and have a target on our backs, but we’ve been here before and can do it again.”

Alliance (19-10) knotted the score in the second frame, pulling to within a run on back-to-back doubles by Nathan Heater and Andrew Datz then knotting the game on a run-scoring single by Sam Holt.

The Aviators opened a 3-2 lead in the third inning after Trevor Strata led off with a walk, advanced to second base on a wild pitch, moved to third on a single by Emma Lopez then raced home on a sacrifice fly by Logan Bell.

The Cardinals reclaimed the lead in the fifth inning, sending 10 players to the plate and scoring five times as they forged a 7-3 advantage.

Designated hitter Jad Jadallah’s two-run single gave Canfield a 4-3 lead, pushing the margin to 7-3 on a run-scoring double by Budde, and RBI singles by Chance Merlin and Seth Velker.

“We lost 14 seniors from last year’s team and with eight senior leaders this year, went 10-0 in the AAC [Red Tier]. This team played with a chip on their shoulder all season and they’ve always felt that they belonged.

“We had great approaches at the plate, one through nine and that was key.”

Canfield finished off the scoring in the sixth when Beck’s sacrifice fly plated Dom Pilolli with the game’s final tally.

Pillolli, who swiped two bases on the day, has now stolen 26 bases this season without being caught.

“You have to tip your hat to Canfield because they hit our best,” Alliance head coach Jeff Graffice said. “Both teams went at it and played hard the entire game.”