Inches and luck spell defeat for Knights in Regional semifinal
By Dave Mast
June 3, 2013
395
Baseball is a game of inches.
And no matter how well you play, it is also a matter of luck.
West Holmes fell to Waverly 3-2 in the Div. II Zanesville Regional baseball game at Gant memorial Stadium on Thursday, May 30, and inches and luck had a lot to do with it.
The matter of inches came in a fifth inning that saw the Tigers plate the tying and go-ahead runs.
A single, a sacrifice bunt and a groundout left a runner on second with two outs. Eric Rinehart then hit a fist-shot looper into shallow center field. Shortstop Keaton Leppla charged back, trying to make a spectacular over-the-shoulder running catch. The ball hit the top of his glove, and fell to the ground, scoring the tying run.
Adam Tiu then hit a grounder deep into the hole between short and third. A diving Levi Jones couldnt come up with the ball, but Leppla did, and planted and made the long throw to first, where Gabe Snyder was unable to dig it out of the dirt, allowing Rinehart to score the eventual game-winner.
Last year we make that play, said West Holmes coach Kurt McDowell of the bloop single to center that tied the score. This year they were just an inch or two out of our reach.
The luck found its way into the game in the final at bat of the game for the Knights in the bottom of the seventh, when they looked as if they might finally break through against Waverly starter Pierce Knisley.
0x3d7e2d40Levi Jones hit a sharp shot to third that went for an error, and Josh Carsner went in to pinch run. After Scotty Troyer laid down a great sacrifice bunt in which he appeared to have beaten the throw to first but was called out, Colten Shane hit a grounder to short that went for an error, putting runners on first and second. Devin DeHass ran for Shane and Brody Miller banged a slow ground ball to second. When the Tigers threw to first for the out, Carsner came storming toward home, then put on the breaks and scampered back to third, bringing Jonathan Clark to the plate. After battling to a full count, Clark scorched a one hopper back toward Knisley on the mound.
0x3d7e2ea0That was where the luck came into play for the Tigers.
I never saw it, the ball was on me too fast and luckily it hit me and fell right down in front of me, said Knisley, who calmly flipped to first to retire Clark and set off a Waverly celebration.
0x3d7e30a0A few inches either way, and Clarks ball would probably have found its way into the outfield, or at the very least would have gone for an infield single, thus tying the score.
0x3d7e2de0However, in a game of inches and luck, neither went the Knights way this time around.
Quality at bats and defense were our downfall, lamented McDowell. Coach Bamford was talking about discipline at the plate, and hitting thigh high fastballs, and we were reaching at the plate and out on our front foot. We were swinging at balls at the knees at swinging at first pitches and we were pressing.
While the mighty Knights bats were silenced, it wasnt all on their shoulders.
Much of that can be credited to Knisley, who came into the game sporting an 8-0 record with a minuscule 0.31 earned run average.
Knisley kept the Knights off balance all night, getting them to hit his pitches, including a four-pitch fourth inning.
I was getting ahead in the count and they started swinging at just about everything I threw up there, said Knisley, who admitted that the first four batters in the Knights line-up concerned him coming into the game.
I knew they could hit, so I tried to keep the ball down, move it around and change speeds a lot. I was able to get my off-speed stuff over for strikes which helped a lot, and I have probably thrown five change-ups all year, and I threw about 20 tonight. Keeping them off balance was the key.
Knisleys counterpart on the mound for West Holmes was Dillon Baird, who threw well enough to get the win. Baird struck out five and walked four while scattering five hits, allowing just one earned run.
The loss leaves the Knights with a 19-9 mark on the year, a fine year for most teams, but one which still fell short of what the West Holmes players and coaching staff felt they were capable of achieving.
It hurts, said McDowell. This is a small part of their whole life, but its the most important part right at the moment. Its going to hurt. I told them to try and remember the good times we had getting here. Its the first time in West Holmes history we went back-to-back to Regionals. Most of these guys were a big part of that last year and this year. When they look back in a few years, theyll see quite a bit to be proud of. It didnt end up like they wanted, but there were a lot of positives this year.
