Monday, May 17th, 2010

Celina blows four-run lead in seventh

Division II Baseball Sectional at Elida

By Ryan Hines
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Celina's Derek Waterman, right, slides safely into second base with a stolen base as Shawnee second baseman Clint Spencer waits for the ball during their Division II sectional final at Elida's Ed Sandy Field on Saturday. Celina had a 4-0 lead going into the seventh inning, but Shawnee rallied for a 5-4 win and a berth in the district tournament.

ELIDA - The Celina baseball team looked headed for a sectional title on Saturday with a four-run lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning with their ace pitcher on the hill.
However, Shawnee rallied to score five runs in the seventh inning to stun Celina, 5-4, in Division II sectional final action from Ed Sandy Field in Elida.
Shawnee's rally seemed very unlikely, considering that Celina's Darin Waterman had a one-hit shutout going into the final frame.
"Shocking is probably a better word than disappointing," said Celina head coach Drew Braun, describing the way his team was bounced from the postseason. "If I have the guy on the mound that I wanted with a four-run lead and his pitch count was within his boundaries, that game should be over
for us. I think we let the win slip away."
The Indians (19-8) advance to the Bluffton University District and will play Pemberville Eastwood on Thursday at 4 p.m. Wapakoneta (22-4) also advanced to the Bluffton District and will play Fostoria at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
Celina helped set the table for the Shawnee comeback as Waterman walked Bruce Roberts to start the seventh and then Virgil Ellett reached base on catcher's interference on a swing by Bulldogs catcher Caleb Shreves.
After Celina recorded an out on an infield pop out, Trey Runneal singled to load the bases before Austin Anderson ended the shutout with an RBI single.
Waterman rebounded with a strikeout for the second out, but then made a crucial mistake by hitting Drew Biss with a pitch when the Shawnee designated hitter already had two strikes. Hitting Biss forced in a run to make it 4-2 and then Waterman walked Clint Spencer to plate another Indians run while cutting the Bulldogs' lead to 4-3.
With the bases still loaded and two outs, Waterman got off to an 0-2 count right away on Shawnee's Garrett Black, but Black worked the count to 2-2 before ripping a walk-off two-run single to right-centerfield for a 5-4 Indians victory.
"Darin had us no-hit through five the first time that we played and he had another no-hitter going today through four. I think that we made some adjustments, being more patient on early pitches. Garrett is our three-hole hitter for a reason and he came through for us in a big situation," said Shawnee head coach Chad Spencer.
"That was a very uncharacteristic inning for us," said Braun. "Walk a guy, catcher's interference, get two strikes on a guy and hit him with a pitch....I feel like we aided them in their comeback. Now they got the big hits when they needed them there, but we certainly helped them a bunch by putting runners on base. How often do you see a catcher's interference? You don't hardly ever see that. I think the biggest play in the inning was when we hit a guy that had two strikes on him to force in a run and get to the meat of their order. We didn't want to get to Spencer and Black."
Shawnee was forced to play catchup for most of the game as Celina grabbed the early lead with a four-run second inning.
Kyle Markle got the rally started for Celina with a solo home run over the 345-foot sign in left-centerfield for a 1-0 Bulldogs lead. With two outs, Derek Waterman and Nick Legg drew walks before Josh Leonard and Kahl Knapke delivered RBI singles. The fourth Celina run scored when a Shawnee outfielder made an errant throw to the infield on Leonard's run-scoring single.
Following the four-run second frame, Celina mustered just two more hits the rest of the game as Ellett was in control on the mound. Ellett got the win allowing just five hits.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Celina's Kahl Knapke connects for an RBI single for the Bulldogs against Shawnee in the Division II sectional final at Elida on Saturday. Knapke had two hits but Shawnee rallied from four runs down in the seventh inning to win, 5-4.

Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Celina's Darin Waterman gets ready fire a pitch to the plate during the Bulldogs' Division II sectional final against Shawnee on Saturday afternoon at Ed Sandy Field in Elida. Waterman was throwing a one-hit shutout with a 4-0 lead going into the seventh inning, but Shawnee rallied to beat Celina, 5-4.

Additional online story on this date
CELINA - Two local men will appear in Celina Municipal Court this afternoon in connection with the apparent disposal of a stolen car in Grand Lake on Saturday night. [More]
Subscriber and paid stories on this date
CELINA - Residents attending a public forum organized by the city on Saturday indicated they support the idea of increasing the city's 1 percent income tax.
Parks, rec department might see change
CELINA - Several city union employees expressed displeasure with how the financially beleaguered city is trying to save money.
At a pubic forum Sat
MINSTER - With village officials preparing for the upcoming Fourth Street reconstruction project, longtime residents took a trip down memory lane Sunday.
Celina schools
CELINA - After declining to support the first round of funding for the federal Race to the Top grant, the Celina Education Association now has committed to participate in the second round.
Rookie group at national competition, fails in preliminary round
MINSTER - Everything appeared to be progressing well as members of the Minster Middle School rocket team fired their rocket in the national competition in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.
Parkway
ROCKFORD - Parkway Local Schools will graduate 87 seniors at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in the high school auditorium.
Honored as valedictorian will be Claire Burtch and salutatorian Corbin Hellwarth.
Division III Softball Sectional at Elida
ELIDA - Parkway spotted Paulding a first-inning run, then shut them down the rest of the way to win the battle of Panthers, 6-1, at the Division III sectional final at Dorothy Edwards Field in Elida.
Sectional Tennis Roundup
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
St. Marys' Joseph Brenneman and the Celina doubles team of Tyler Everman and Ryan Rutschilling moved to district tennis play after Saturday's semifinals and finals of the Division II boys tennis sectional at the University of Northwestern Ohio.
ROSSBURG - A pair of Indiana drivers picked up wins on Saturday night at Eldora Speedway during the first Family Fun Night of the 2010 season.
Eri