Tuesday, April 25th, 2023
Marathon win
Parkway forces extras to overcome Celina
By Tom Haines
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Parkway's Brayden Bruns (9) congratulates Fletcher Smith (8) as Celina pitcher Max Baumstark walks back to the mound after Smith and Jackson Kraner (7) scored in the 11th inning at Montgomery Field on Monday.
CELINA - Trailing 2-1 with two outs in the seventh inning, Parkway had no one on base when Xavier Samples sent a ground ball bouncing toward Celina shortstop Zach Greber.
The ball took a high bounce and tied up Greber, Bulldogs starter Brady Steinbrunner lost the strike zone, and the Panthers forced extra innings on the way to a 5-4 win in the 11th at Montgomery Field on Monday.
"One of the worst losses I've ever experienced," Celina coach John Dorner said. "Five or six baserunning mistakes in the infield. Two outs, we're up one in the last inning, and we got an error and two walks. We absolutely gift-wrapped that game.
"I give Parkway credit, they never shut down," he said, "but we could've won that game in many, many, many ways."
After Greber's error, Celina (7-9) still had two outs, but Steinbrunner issued a pair of full-count walks to load the bases. On Caiden Berry's chopper in front of the plate, he grabbed the ball ahead of catcher Nick Steinbrunner and looked to throw home, but no one was there.
By the time he looked to first, Berry was crossing the bag and the game was tied.
"We were able to grind some at-bats out and we got in their bullpen," Parkway coach Neil Schaffner said. "Then we got some fat pitches to hit, and that helped out a lot."
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Parkway's Caiden Berry goes to tag Celina's Dale Secrest after Secrest got caught in a rundown in the second inning.
Brady Steinbrunner walked in another run to put Parkway (10-6) up 3-2 before Max Baumstark got the third out. In the bottom half, Greber slammed a two-out RBI double to send the game into extras.
Each team stranded a runner in the eighth, Berry was left on first after a two-out single in the ninth, and after Carver Harris led off the 10th with a walk, he was thrown out running on a missed bunt.
Harris was the fourth Celina runner caught stealing after starter Roman Leszinske picked off three in the first four innings.
"As a lefty, you're always going to slow the running game down, and they like to run," Schaffner said. "He kept them off balance with fastballs, curveballs, changeups on different counts, and he did a really good job keeping us in the game."
In the top of the 11th, Jackson Kraner walked and Fletcher Smith singled through the middle. Berry watched three pitches before driving the ball into the left-center gap for a two-run double.
"It just happened that we got the big hit - the big, big hit - with guys on base," Schaffner said. "And we held them off in the last inning. …
"He kind of got off-balance," he said of Berry. "Had some hand-swings, lunging. We just kept telling him, 'Soft strike, slow strike, quick hands,' and he let one rip and it was a really big hit for us."
Wes Greber doubled in the bottom half, Zander Jones beat out an infield single and Dale Secrest hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-4. But Caleb Stephenson grounded to short and Berry stepped on second to end the game.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Celina right fielder Wes Greber leaps to catch a fly ball by Parkway's Roman Leszinske in the eighth inning at Montgomery Field on Monday.
Leszinske and Baumstark traded sacrifice flies in the first before Celina took the lead in the third. Stephenson walked and moved up on a bunt before Leszinske threw away a bunt to allow him to score.
Celina put the leadoff runner on in each of the next three innings but couldn't add on, as Leszinske picked off Jones in the fourth and dove for a catch to start a double play in the sixth.
Parkway put its first two runners on in the fourth, but after a bunt, Brady Steinbrunner knocked down a line drive and threw out Devon Crouch at third before inducing a groundout. He then set the next eight batters down in order before the two-out error in the seventh opened the door.
"Right now, we're not playing very well, and we don't deserve to win," Dorner said. "If we don't get our act turned around, it's going to be a long, long season."
Berry went 3-for-5 with three RBI and Crouch added two hits. Wes Greber and Jones had two hits apiece.
The Bulldogs host Bath today in a Western Buckeye League game. Parkway takes on Marion Local in a Midwest Athletic Conference matchup.
