Thursday, July 5th, 2012
Cavaliers advance to district tourney
Mercer County ACME Sectional Tournament
By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Adam Klosterman, left, tags out Parkway's Cody Depweg at second base during the second inning of Wednesday's Mercer County ACME sectional tournament at St. Henry's Wally Post Athletic Complex. Coldwater defeated Parkway 9-3 to earn a berth into next week's district tournament.
ST. HENRY - Fast starts proved to be a successful strategy on Wednesday during the Mercer County ACME sectional tournament as one team punched their ticket to the district tournament while another avoided elimination.
Coldwater scored seven times in the top of the first inning and went on to win the winner's bracket final and secure an automatic spot in the district - which the Cavaliers are hosting - with a 9-3 win over Parkway at the Wally Post Athletic Complex.
The Cavaliers will now wait for the winner of tonight's Celina-Parkway elimination game which will start at 6 p.m.
Celina, which lost to Parkway on Monday, won its first elimination game 3-2 over Marion Local on Tuesday before sending the host St. Henry Redskins home for the summer with an 8-5 win on Wednesday. St. Henry had advanced to Wednesday with an 8-7 win in eight innings over Fort Recovery on Tuesday.
Coldwater 9, Parkway 3
The Cavaliers loaded the bases in the first inning against Parkway's Cain Pontsler thanks to a hit by pitch, a walk and a fielder's choice when Coldwater's Drew Otten beat the throw to second.
Pontsler managed to get the next batter out, but Matt Selhorst's fly ball to center was deep enough to score Mitch Heyne to put the Cavs on top 1-0.
Blake Spangler's base hit reloaded the bases for Adam Klosterman, who walked to give the Cavs a 2-0 advantage. Grant Muhlenkamp brought home two more runs with a single and Matt Kramer followed with an RBI ground out. Pontsler was chased from the mound after walking Mitch Schoenherr and giving up a double to Heyne.
"That was key because the rest of the game was pretty even," said Coldwater's coach Tom Brunswick about the Cavs' quick start. "Parkway is going to battle to the end."
After the seven-run first inning, Parkway's relief pitcher Cody Depweg held Coldwater to just two more runs over the next 5 1/3 innings before Kameron Roehm threw a scoreless seventh.
While Parkway managed to score runs in the first, third and sixth innings, the early deficit proved too much to overcome.
"We really struggled in the first inning. I give credit to Coldwater. They came out and hit the ball," said Parkway's coach Kirk Stephenson."We just had some mistakes defensive-wise that could have minimized the damage. After the first inning, we played with them hit-for-hit and defense-for-defense. Whole different game after that."
Derek Thobe went the distance for Coldwater and allowed three runs, all unearned because of four Cavaliers' errors, on eight hits.
Celina 8, St. Henry 5
The Bulldogs got to St. Henry's pitcher Ryan Mikesell in the top of the first, putting the first four batters on base by either walk or hit. Aric Fickert and Kaleb Kuhn each had RBI singles with Skylar McCarter adding an RBI sacrifice fly as the Bulldogs jumped on top 3-0.
"We needed to come out and get the bats going," said Celina's coach Todd Steinbrunner. "Last couple of games we had a little trouble getting some hits together (five runs the last two games). Getting ahead in the first inning helps your confidence."
Celina got much-needed runs in the third and fourth to provide a cushion as the Redskins were able to battle back and pose as a threat.
"I probably left Ryan in too long," said St. Henry's coach Andy Mikesell. "He's only pitching on three days' rest (pitched in relief on Tuesday). Jason (Jacobs, who came to pitch the final three innings) pitched well. I didn't think he would having pitched two days ago. Probably should have went sooner to (Jacobs)."
Fickert, who threw several innings in relief on Monday, threw six innings while Riley Luebke, who also pitched Monday, went the final inning for a save.
"Aric was throwing on one day's rest," said Steinbrunner. "... I talked to him yesterday. Being a senior leader, he wanted the ball.
"Riley, another senior, came in and shut the door on one day's rest. That's big for us."
Tuesday's Games
St. Henry 8, Fort Recovery 7 (8 innings)
Briar Holloman's one-out single in the bottom of the eighth inning scored Brian Kremer to cap off a comeback win for the Redskins while ending Fort Recovery's ACME season.
The Indians led 4-0 after three innings before the Redskins scored three in the fourth to get within one. Fort Recovery added three runs in the fifth but St. Henry scored two in the sixth and two more in the seventh to tie the game before getting the game winner. Kremer singled with one out in the eighth, followed by walks to Mikesell and Devin Froning to set up the winning hit by Holloman.
Celina 3, Marion Local 2
Vogel had a record night on the mound for the Bulldogs as the left-hander struck out 18 Flyers to keep the top-seeded Bulldogs alive after losing on Monday.
Vogel threw 5 1/3 innings of no-hit baseball before Blake Benton and Kyle Mescher had back-to-back singles for the Flyers in the sixth.
Marion Local's pitcher Peyton Kramer allowed just five hits in taking the tough-luck loss.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Celina's Aric Fickert helped keep the Bulldogs alive in the Mercer County ACME sectional tournament after earning the win in Celina's 8-5 win over St. Henry on Wednesday.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Celina's Skylar McCarter, middle, slides safely into second base as St. Henry's Brian Kremer, right, catches the ball with Redskins' teammate Austin Bills, left, looking on during Wednesday's Mercer County ACME sectional tournament elimination game at the Wally Post Athletic Complex. Celina defeated St. Henry 8-5.
