Tuesday, June 19th, 2018

Shutting them down

Piper outlasts Habodasz in pitchers' duel as Celina edges Marion in ACME battle

By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Marion Local's Brandon Fleck, 25, slides safely into second as Celina's Quinn Andrew waits for the ball during Monday's ACME baseball game at Montgomery Field.

CELINA - Fans arriving late to Montgomery Field for Monday's ACME baseball game missed all the offense.
Marion Local scored its run in the first inning before Celina's Ethan Piper shut down the Flyers. Austin Cotterman's two-run bloop double in the second held up for the Bulldogs to pick up the 2-1 win and split the season series with the Flyers.
Piper, who struggled in his last start by allowing five runs in the first inning to Fort Recovery, got the first two outs in the top of the first before Brandon Fleck singled. After Fleck stole second, Nate Ungruhn singled to put runners at first and third for Matt Moeller, who singled to center to score Fleck. Reece Hess walked to load the bases, but that was the last Flyer baserunner for a long time as Piper struck out Kyle Francis to leave the bases loaded.
Piper set down the Flyer side in order in the second through sixth innings, striking out seven batters in those innings and finished with 10 punchouts in the game.
"Ethan struggled in the first inning. After that, he hit cruise control," said Celina coach Jimmy Luebke. "He settled in, threw strikes and got outs.
"He was pounding the strike zone and kept them off-balanced with his curve."
"We had four hits, and three of them were in that first inning," Marion coach Glenn Griesdorn said.
Celina answered the Flyers in the second inning. Quinn Andrew drew a one-out walk. Marion pitcher Nolan Habodasz struck out Zach Stein for the second out, but then hit Nash Weimert and Bransen Miller to load the bases for Cotterman, who blooped a hit into short left field, scoring Andrew and Weimert and allowing Cotterman to reach second. Habodasz then retired Caden Highley for the third out.
"We just put something together and it worked for us," said Luebke.
"We got into trouble. We walked a batter and hit a batter. They both scored," Griesdorn said.
Habodasz kept Celina from adding runs the rest of the game, scattering three hits and two walks while getting solid defense from his teammates. Piper hit into a 6-4-3 double play in the third inning to end one threat. Then in the fifth, Grant Wagner was robbed of a base hit when Kyle Muhlenkamp made a diving catch to end the inning.
"He pitched pretty well, too," Luebke said of Habodasz. "We just put two runs together at the perfect time."
Piper continued his hot pitching at the start of the seventh, striking out Fleck and Ungruhn for his 17th and 18th straight outs. Moeller ended the streak by drawing a four-pitch walk. Hess followed with a single to put runners at first and second. After a brief pep talk from Luebke, Piper ended the game by getting Francis to fly out to Highley in center.
Wagner had two hits for the Bulldogs (3-2 Mercer County).
Celina hosts Coldwater in a doubleheader on Wednesday starting at 6 p.m. Marion Local (4-2 County) travels to St. Henry on Wednesday.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Ethan Piper retired 18 Marion batters in a row and struck out 10 in Celina's 2-1 win over the Flyers.

Additional online story on this date
CELINA - Longtime Celina Police Detective Ronald Waltmire retired from law enforcement earlier this month but now looks forward to working for the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office. [More]
Subscriber and paid stories on this date
FORT RECOVERY - Council members on Monday gave final authorization to place a five-year, 2.5-mill storm sewer emergency levy renewal on the Nov. 6 general election ballot.
Celina
CELINA - School board members on Monday terminated third-grade teacher Greg Fledderjohann's contract after he reportedly made false accusations to the Ohio Board of Education against a fellow teacher and the elementary school principal.
ST. HENRY - Local law enforcement agencies will conduct active-school shooter training today and Wednesday at St. Henry High School.
The Mercer Cou
CELINA - Police officers are seeking information about an accident that occurred at 9 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of Main and Market streets.
CELINA - Mercer County Engineer Jim Wiechart reminds landowners and farmers that corn that is encroaching in the road rights of way can be a very serious sight problem on the narrower township and county roads.
RJ Corman will close Staeger Road between state routes 29 and 703 from July 25-28, according to the Mercer County Engineer's Office.
The railroad company plans to upgrade a signal and install a new panel in the crossing, according to a news release.
Mercer County's unemployment rate increased slightly in May but still remains the state's lowest.
May's rate was 2.5 percent, up from April's 2.3 percent, according to data released today by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
MARIA STEIN - Several new activities will debut at the Maria Stein Country Fest, including a thrill show and a child beauty pageant.
The annual fes
FORT RECOVERY - St. Henry pitcher Isaac Wendel one-hit Fort Recovery and the Redskins collected 14 hits of their own in a 15-0, five-inning run-rule victory on Monday evening.
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
Cole Frilling scattered three hits and struck out six and Coldwater moved in front of Marion Local for the top seed in the Mercer County ACME tournament with a 6-1 win over Parkway on Monday night at Veterans Field.
Former Celina standout to coach Bulldogs' girls basketball team
Cenzie Rushton is coming home to help revive the program she once thrived in.
Rushton, better known to Celina sports fans under her maiden name of