Hiland tops Garaway in ‘the game that wouldn’t end’
Hiland’s Grady Monigold slides home safely under the tag of Garaway catcher Cooper Gintz in the 13th inning. The play broke a longstanding tie in a game that lasted 25 days, and the Hawks would go on to survive for a 7-6 win.
Not only did the Hiland Hawks and Garaway Pirates duke it out in a 13-inning affair that ended with the Hawks claiming a 7-6 victory on The Hill in Sugarcreek on Saturday, May 10, but also the game took all of 25 days to complete.
Yes, that’s correct, 25 days.
“I’ve never been in a game this long,” Hiland head coach Chris Dages said. “It’s really just like any other game. We came here today looking at this like it was zero to zero and a new game. You can’t make too much of it because you don’t want it to get into guys’ heads.”
The two teams played to a 4-all tie on April 16 in Sugarcreek, but after working through 10 innings all even, darkness put an end to the game, and it was postponed until April 22.
Rain washed away that effort, and the game was again rescheduled, this time for April 29. No such luck as Mother Nature intervened again and washed away that effort.
A third attempt was set for May 6, but again a torrential downpour at game time sent both teams home without determining a winner.
Finally, bright sunshine greeted the two teams on Saturday, May 10, albeit at the unique time of 10 a.m., and something was going to give.
The problem was neither team blinked, despite having chances to push across a single tally.
After Hiland went down easily in the top of the 10th, the Pirates threatened to make short work of the long-delayed confrontation.
Brody Hartzler lashed a single to center to start the inning, and eventually, the Pirates put runners on first and second with one out. However, Andre Yoder got a key strikeout and a fly-out to end the threat.
Hiland came in for the 11th inning and quickly put up a major threat when Isaiah Wagler and Ben Hostetler each reached on bunt singles. After Cade Beachy sacrificed the runners up one base, Hiland skipper Chris Dages resorted to a suicide squeeze bunt, but on the deciding play, Garaway catcher Cooper Gintz made a sensational block, scooped up the ball and tagged Wagler out at the plate for the second out, and freshman pitcher Ethan Miller worked his way out of trouble.
After Yoder sailed through the bottom of the 12th, Miller looked like he would follow suit, but with two outs and nobody on in the top of the 13th, the Hawks went to work.
It started with a Grady Monigold single down the right-field line, followed by a single from Logan Yoder. Luke Hershberger then delivered a monster two-out RBI single to give the Hawks a 5-4 lead.
Hiland wasn’t done, with Wagler and Yoder producing RBI singles to push the lead to 7-4.
It turned out the Hawks needed every one of those runs.
Gintz and Colson Keller got on board with a hit and walk, respectively, and with two outs, Aedon Miller jacked a colossal two-run double to make it 7-6. With the Pirates threatening to send it to the 14th inning, Yoder bore down and recorded a strikeout to end the marathon matchup.
Both coaches agreed the situation was unique, but neither team had any problem getting geared up for the finale of this intense rivalry, considering Hiland might have made the trip down state Route 39 to play one inning of baseball.
“I think both teams came into this looking to score one run and get three outs,” Dages said. “We had no problem getting ready again. With this rivalry our guys are ready to play one inning, five innings, 20 innings, whatever it takes. And Garaway always plays us tough.”
“It’s such an unseen anomaly, and to have it get rescheduled and canceled three times was really weird, but our message to the kids was simple coming into today,” Garaway head coach Justin Elmore said. “We told them we need three outs and a single run, which is unusual for any game. We got three outs and two guys on, but we couldn’t push that run across.”
Elmore said it was the little things that helped Hiland emerge as the victor, but he praised his freshman hurler for doing an outstanding job.
“We were 0-for-3 in attempts to get a bunt down, knowing we’re playing for one run,” Elmore said. “This is one of those games where we hope that we can learn from the little things we didn’t do and execute them properly next time.”
Another little thing that had plenty to do with Hiland’s pitching was the mountain of strikeouts the staff produced versus Garaway hitters. The Pirates struck out an eye-popping 26 times, Yoder earning 10 of those in his five innings and Michael Miller adding 14 in his six innings of pitching.
“Andre was throwing when the game got suspended, and he came back here today and continued the phenomenal work,” Dages said. “He hasn’t thrown much for us because of our pitching depth, but he was really effective when we needed him the most.”
Elmore said seeing his team go head-to-head with the two-time defending state champion Hawks is inspiring for his crew, with the Hawks currently ranked as the No. 2 team in all divisions in the state of Ohio on MaxPreps. Hiland won a 2-1 nail-biter over the Pirates earlier this season.
“We’ve played them well on both occasions,” Elmore said. “We’ve shown a lot of grit and fight. We’re right there, and our kids have heard that message twice now. It should give us confidence because Hiland has been the best team in the state now for two years.”
That message becomes important because these two teams could be headed for a third meeting, this one in what could be a Div. VI showdown in districts.
With the Hawks still undefeated at 18-0, Dages said the goal is to win every time out. He said regardless of the record, it’s about performing.
“We just want to get out here and compete, game in, game out,” Dages said. “If we win them all, great, and hopefully we learn from the games we don’t win. It’s not something we talk about a lot.”
The Hawks have had a load of tight games throughout a very difficult schedule, having won eight one- or two-run games this spring. Dages said that experience is something that will be invaluable when tournament time rolls in.
“We’ve scheduled a really difficult schedule this season, and we’ve had some great games, games that get us ready for tournament play,” Dages said.
They can count this marathon game among those quality games, as can the Pirates.