Wildcats to Play for  Regional Championship

BY ROB KISER

Brown Publishing Correspondent

and KIRK DOUGAL

Times Bulletin Editor

HUBER HEIGHTS - It was not exactly the 10-0 win over the Sidney Lehman Wildcats that Delphos Jefferson had enjoyed last year in the regional tournament but Coach Troy Montenery and his own Wildcats were thrilled to be moving on no matter what the score after a 3-2 victory in the Division IV Regional Semifinals on Thursday night.

The game was in doubt for a while as a driving rain storm made it nearly impossible to see across the parking lot, let alone think of playing a baseball game. But when the rains finally stopped, Jefferson picked up exactly where they had left off in the seventh inning of last week's thrilling win over Crestview in the district finals.

Cory Bastion opened the Jefferson offense with an infield single. Sean Fisher then came to the plate and blasted a drive that hit the plastic tubing that ran along the top of the outfield fence. The ball bounced up in the air and then landed on the other side of the fence for a home run, giving Jefferson a 2-0 shot in the arm and an early lead.

But Lehman pitcher Kameron Barton would have none of it. The Wildcat righthander quickly settled down and showed Jefferson why he was the Lehman number one pitcher all season long. He finished with a six-hitter, including four strikeouts and two walks.

Jefferson's Craig Carder was still riding high after his complete game victory over New Knoxville in the district semifinal game. Lehman came in with a strategy to be patient at the plate against Carder and it worked for a while, forcing him to throw a lot of pitches and create scoring opportunities. But Carder answered every tight situation by bearing down and coming up with the pitch he needed.

Lehman's frustrations began in the second inning.

A walk to Ben Weber, a single by D.J. Hemm and a walk to Josh Waugh loaded the bases with two outs. Carder found what he needed, however, and punched up a strikeout to end the inning.

Lehman finally cracked the scoreboard in the third. Barton singled and came around to score on Wil Fridley's double to make it 2-1. But again Carder settled down, retiring the next seven Wildcats in a row.

That set up the exciting sixth inning when Barton led off with another hit, this time a double. He was unable to move up on Fridley's fly out, however, but did move to third with two outs on Weber's single to left field. Again Carder answered with a strikeout that ended the rally and kept the score with Jefferson on top, 2-1.

In the bottom of the inning a name that has become synonymous with clutch hitting for Delphos came through again. Aaron Schuerman launched a home run which at the time was just thought to provide some cushion for Jefferson but eventually proved essential.

Carder quickly picked up two outs in the top of the seventh inning but then Kaleb Goins tomahawked a high pitch over the 320-foot sign in leftfield with two outs to bring Lehman to within a count of 3-2. But, for the last time in this contest, Carder came up with a huge pitch to get the strikeout to end the game.

Jefferson will play the Reading Blue Devils tonight at 5 p.m. in Huber Heights at Wayne High School for the Regional Championship and the chance to go on to the state tournament.