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Marion Local's Trey Brookhart attempts to put the tag on Parkway's Carson Kirby during Monday's ACME District 4 game at Montgomery Field in Celina.
CELINA - What first looked like a bad omen for Marion Local turned to be a tremendous win.
Ben Meier came in to pitch after starting pitcher Brennen Hess went down with injury and pitched the rest of the game as the Flyers advanced to the ACME District 4 winner's bracket final with a 7-3 win over Parkway on Monday at Montgomery Field in Celina.
Marion now takes on St. Henry at 8 p.m. tonight at the Wally Post Athletic Conference for a berth in Thursday's championship game.
Parkway drops into the elimination bracket and faces Minster tonight at 6 p.m. in another elimination game at St. Henry.
The start of the game for Marion was costly, as Hess rolled his ankle as he stepped on first base to complete an out and went down in pain. Hess was helped off the field. With Marion having just nine players dressed at that time, the team was forced to play with eight players as Meier came in from center field to take over on the mound after a short warm-up. Meier quickly got the next two outs.
Having just two outfielders for a couple innings, until Kale Ahrens came in to take over in centerfield in the third, proved to be tough for Marion in the second inning as two big hits down the right field line brought home the Panthers' two runs. Carson Kirby led off with a double to right, then Jack Yoder tripled home Kirby to make it 1-0. Rowan Yoder grounded out to short to bring Jack Yoder home to make it 2-0.
That was the only major hiccup for Meier, who got out of a further jam in the second and then pitched scoreless ball from the third through fifth innings, allowing Marion to make some moves on offense.
"I was happy how they picked up after (Hess' injury)," said Marion coach Nathan Ungruhn. "Ben came in and did his thing."
Marion tied the game in the bottom of the third as Ethan Osterholt was hit by a pitch with one out and stole second. Isaac Moeller then singled home Osterholt and took second on the throw home. After an error moved Moeller to third, Meier helped his cause with a single to bring home the tying run.
Marion Local's Ben Meier is tagged out by Parkway catcher Kolt Harner.
In the fourth, Marion brought home two runs. Osterholt had a two-run single and Moeller and Meier each added RBI singles. In the fifth, Seth Heitkamp led off with a single and moved to second on a Wyatt Fleck bunt. One out later, Ethan Simcoe singled home Heitkamp to make it 7-2.
"This summer, we had some iffy hitting at times," said Ungruhn. "It was good to see everything come together,"
Parkway got a run back in the sixth as Kolt Harner led off with a triple and scored on Kirby's single, but Meier got three straight outs to end that threat. In the seventh, Meier got the first two outs before Gavin Fisher hit a double. Meier then struck out Rowan Knapke to end the game.
Minster's Andrew Wiss looks for the ball as New Bremen's Eli Cathcart tries to slide while Cardinal teammate AJ Rismiller stays on the bag.
The Wildcats scored single runs over the first three innings to take the lead, then after the Cardinals got to within a run in the fifth, added four runs in their final two at-bats.
Jace Hemmelgarn drove in the first Minster run in the bottom of the first with a groundout to score Reese Beair. In the second, it was Andrew Ketner bringing home a run with a single to score Andrew Wiss. Chase Dirksen made it 3-0 in the third with a single to score Noah Schwieterman.
Dom Meyer went through the first four innings unscathed on the mound for Minster, but in the fifth, New Bremen started to stir. Two walks and a single loaded the bases for Owen Bornhorst, who singled to center to score Bennett Tinnerman, but a great throw from Carson Kaylor to catcher Parker Kerrigan caught Levi Grevenkamp at home for the first out. The out proved big as Caleb Keller followed with a single to score Brady Pape to make it 3-2. Reliever Noah Schwieterman then got the final two outs to get the Wildcats out of the jam.
Insurance came quickly for the Wildcats in the bottom of the fifth with some solid two-out work. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Wiss. A passed ball brought home Schwieterman and Wiss drew a walk to load the bases again. Another passed ball scored Hemmelgarn to make it 5-2.
New Bremen's Brady Keller throws to first base against Minster.
In the bottom of the sixth, Minster used some more two-out play to score the final two runs. A passed ball brought home Kaylor, then Beair came home on a passed ball to make it 7-2.
Wiss came on to pitch the top of the seventh. Grevenkamp led off with a double, but got caught trying to get back to the bag for the first out. After Pape walked, Wiss got back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.
Schwieterman was the only Wildcat with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Grevenkamp had two hits for New Bremen.
