Delphos Jefferson wins second consecutive district championship thanks to wild seventh inning rally
BY KIRK DOUGAL
Times Bulletin Editor
COLDWATER - Crestview won their first meeting earlier this season with seventh inning heroics but on Friday night at the Division IV District baseball finals, it was Delphos Jefferson's turn to celebrate late as they came from behind to beat the Knights, 6-5, and move on to Regional play.
The game started exactly as the Knights wanted it to when Northwest Conference Player of the Year Ian Clay led off with a walk which was followed by a Tony Springer bunt single. Clay took third on the play when no Wildcats covered the bag and he scored a moment later on a wild pitch to crack the scoreboard. Springer and Kyle Balliet also scored later as Crestview jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the bats were even taken out of the Jefferson bag.
But the Wildcats answered immediately. Cory Bastion led off with a single to right and two batters later Josh Miller roped a double to right center to score Bastion and bring the score to 3-1 at the end of one.
Neither team did any damage in the second but Crestview scored again in the third when Balliet led off with a single which was followed by a walk and a Jefferson error. He scored when Ian Zollars forced him home on a bases loaded walk. Jefferson also scored in the third when Miller got on by a fielder's choice and then moved to second on a wild double play attempt. He then scored on the next play when a throw across the infield got away from first baseman Zollars.
In the fourth inning, with the Crestview holding a 4-2 lead, the Knights manufactured a run with small ball. Springer led off with a single to left and was sacrificed to second on a Gibson bunt. Balliet, after a brilliant nine-pitch at bat where he was down 0-2 and fouled off three more strikes, flied deep to center and moved Springer to third. He scored a minute later on a Nick Ulrey single and Crestview's lead was up to 5-2.
That was where the game stayed as both teams settled in for the rest of the battle. Jefferson pitcher Mike Rahrig threw a lot of pitches early, 81 through four innings, before settling down and allowing only two base runners over the last nine outs. A six-pitch sixth inning helped keep him in the game as Jefferson coach Troy Montenery said later he was ready to take him out at the first sign of trouble.
Balliet also had worked himself into a rhythm for the Knights. He allowed only one baserunner in innings four through six while second baseman Springer fielded everything on the right side of the diamond, finishing with five assists and three putouts. That included a 4-unassisted-3 double play in the sixth inning that appeared to be the final dagger in Jefferson's heart.
The bottom of the seventh inning started innocently enough when pinch hitter Austin Clarkson started off the fireworks with a bloop single to right field. Bastion then followed with a ground ball single up the middle placed perfectly between Springer and Clay. Crestview coach Jim Wharton brought in Ulrey to pitch at that point and he was promptly greeted with a seeing-eye single to left that was just under the glove of Clay at shortstop.
Jefferson now had the bases loaded with nobody out and the tying run at first. Miller came to the plate and hit the second pitch he saw in exactly the spot as Fisher - just off of Clay's reach into short left - and scored two runs. Ulrey tried to settle down but he then gave up a four-pitch walk to the clean up batter Ryan Kortokrax. That left all the heroics up to Aaron Schuerman who had smoked the ball twice already on the night. With an 0-2 count he did it again, reaching out on an Ulrey fastball that was several inches outside and smacked a line drive down the third base line where it appeared to go just off the tip of Brad Miller's glove on a diving attempt. Fisher and Miller both scored and the Delphos celebration was under way.
"That's the importance of tournament play," said Crestview's Wharton after the game. "Every bounce of the ball is important. It was just a tremendous high school baseball game. Both teams have so much to be proud of because it was a very well played game."
Jefferson's coach Montenery could only laugh afterwards when it came to the prognostication abilities of one of his assistant coaches.
"Coach Fisher said before the seventh inning, 'I don't understand this feeling but I just think we're going to do this.' I had a good feeling, too. We had the top of the order coming up and I knew we would have some good shots. What an exciting day for all the kids."
Both coaches had nothing but praise for the efforts of their pitchers.
"Just a tremendous effort," said Coach Wharton. "Kyle (Balliet) came in with our two losses but in those we probably had 10 or 11 errors. We talked about playing defense and tonight Kyle turned in a phenomenal performance against a very good hitting team."
"Mike (Rahrig) was up to the high 80s (pitch count) early in the fifth inning and we were really concerned about that," said Montenery. "We talked to him and I told him if you get in trouble one more time and I'll have to come get you. He said, 'Coach, you may not believe this but I feel better now than at the start of the game. I can take us the rest of the way.'"
Jefferson now moves on to the Regional Tournament at Huber Heights/Wayne High School on Thursday, May 28 at 5 p.m.
