The Chagrin Falls Tigers traveled to Norwayne High School on May 22 to take on Black River in the district semifinal.
Game photos click here.
The Chagrin Falls Tigers traveled to Norwayne High School on May 22 to take on Black River in the district semifinal.
Both teams pitched great and played great defense. However, the Tigers won in the bottom of the ninth, 1-0.
How did they win? Maybe a home run or a walk, then a bunt to get the runner over to second base, then a game-winning hit? Nope.
In a most unusual way to end a baseball game, the Tigers scored when Donny Hardy singled to start the bottom of the inning.
Hardy then stole second, but the throw got away from the shortstop.
Alertly, Hardy raced to third when he realized the ball got far enough away from the shortstop. The shortstop then ran over to get the ball and tried to make a play on Hardy as he ran toward third. But because it would have taken a perfect throw to get Hardy out at third, it appeared that the shortstop rushed his throw, which got past the third baseman. The throwing error allowed Hardy to score the Tigers’ winning run.
In postgame interviews, the Chagrin Falls players talked about staying resilient throughout a challenging pitchers duel.
“We had to keep the energy going, stay locked in,” Gavin Stevens said. “That was pretty much the key to it. We couldn’t let down one inning, one at-bat, one play.”
Added Donny Hardy, “Basically we started off and then had a long game. We just had to keep our head in it and keep driving. We weren’t swinging it well, but the pitching was dominant today.
“We had our shot to score, and we did it.”
Chagrin Falls Head Coach Michael Sweeney agreed about the importance of having a resilient mindset, and about how great the pitching was for the Tigers.
“Our pitchers were unbelievable,” Sweeney said. “Will Graham and Gavin Stevens were absolutely lights-out; I mean, they were phenomenal.”
After defeating Black River, the Tigers faced the defending state champion, Waynedale, on May 25. Though the Tigers played a great game, they lost 3-0 to complete their season as district runners-up.
NDCL and Kenston also played last week in district championship games, and they will both advance to the regional semifinals on June 1 at Thurman Munson Stadium in Canton.
On May 23, NDCL defeated Marlington, 5-3, led by Nick Dietrich and Nicholas Miller, each with two hits. NDCL then got a victory against Hubbard, 6-0, to claim the district championship.
Cole Stefancin, threw six innings of scoreless baseball, and Gianni Spetic threw the seventh.
Kenston also won its district championship. On May 22, the Bombers defeated Lake Catholic, 5-2. Parker Munday pitched the complete game, striking out 14 and only giving up three hits. Kenston then defeated Norwayne, 5-4, on May 24, led offensively by LA Mighton, Bridger Bischof and Carter Flynn, each with two hits.
