All that’s left is the tournament now for Pirates

  • By Kevin Lynch
  • April 30, 2010
  • 481
                        
A night after putting itself in position to create a logjam atop the Inter-Valley Conference by handing Tuscarawas Central Catholic its first league loss, the Garaway Pirates had a third-inning meltdown against Hiland that cost them the game at Lehman Field in Berlin on Wednesday, April 28. Led by the fine pitching of Spencer Festi and an RBI double from Toby Miller in the sixth inning, the Pirates pulled out a 2-1 triumph over TCC Tuesday, April 27, in Sugarcreek. The hard-throwing Festi held the Saints to one run on five hits over six innings, and Hunter Conkle tossed a scoreless inning for the save. Central scored its lone run in the top of the first inning on an RBI double by Sam Fondriest. The Pirates tied it in the home half of the frame against Tommy Sampsel and then won it in the sixth on Miller’s double. Against the Hawks on Wednesday, Garaway jumped out to a 3-0 lead after three, but Hiland took advantage of some shoddy fielding and a few free passes, plus got a clutch two-out hit that capped an eight-run inning. Hiland held on for an 8-4 victory. “We out-played them for six of the seven innings,” said Garaway coach Justin Elmore. “When you give a good team like Hiland an extra chance, and we gave them many in that third inning, they are going to make you pay. “We out-hit them, and except for one inning, Hunter out-pitched them, but we ran ourselves out of a few innings with dumb base-running mistakes,” the coach continued. “But that’s baseball. When you give good teams extra chances, they’re going to make you pay.” And Hiland made the Pirates pay big time, scoring all eight of their runs in one inning. The win by the Hawks moved them into a tie with Central Catholic atop the IVC with 8-1 records. Hiland and TCC faced off on Thursday, April 29. “Coming off a great game last night against Central, now those two teams are tied,” Elmore said. “We had to win out to give ourselves a chance (at the IVC title). Right now, the tournament has to be our focus, because we gave too many away early, and we have to rely on too many other people for help. You don’t want to have to count on someone else.” The Pirates had nine returning letterwinners back for this season, led by five seniors: Conkle, Greg Moomaw, Festi, Brennan Mullet and Miller. Conkle went 3-for-4 against the Hawks. Moomaw doubled and singled, and Mullet also added a two-base hit and a single. Mullet has been the top hitter and leader in RBI. “Brennan has picked up a lot of slack in the absence of Spencer (Festi),” Elmore said. “He has a broken left hand and hasn’t played in the field or hit for almost four weeks now. All the guys have done a really nice job picking up for Spencer; we’ve been pretty balanced. It’s been a good team effort, like last night Toby getting the big hit.” Festi and Conkle have provided the one-two punch on the mound for the Pirates. Conkle suffered the loss against the Hawks, giving up eight runs (six earned), on seven hits. He walked three and struck out a pair. “They have a nice team,” Hiland coach Tom Gibson said of the Pirates. “They’ve got solid hitting up and down the order and Festi can really bring it.”


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