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Celina's Chance Miller waits on the ball as Minster's Ty Hein (6) tries to leg out a base hit during Wednesday's ACME District 4 tournament game at the LeFevre Family Complex in Fort Recovery.
By JOE SCHATZ and GARY R. RASBERRY
sports@dailystandard.com
A day after runs came in bunches across the District 4 ACME tournament bracket, Celina's 8-5 win over Minster at Fort Recovery's LeFevre Family Complex kept that pace going in a back-and-forth encounter. After Minster jumped out to an early lead, Celina used big frames in the fourth and sixth to win and advance.
"It was just a great baseball game," said Celina coach Scott Steinbrunner. "We hit the ball well from top to bottom, and got a lot of key hits from different guys."
The win moves Celina into the winner's bracket finals against St. Henry, which rallied to beat Coldwater 2-1 in eight innings, tonight at the Wally Post Athletic Complex, with first pitch set for 8 p.m.
Minster, which reached the winner's bracket semifinals after Marion was unable to continue in the tournament, will face New Bremen today in the first game of a tripleheader at the Wally Post Athletic Complex. The Cardinals used a gutsy pitching performance from Reece Mummey to end Parkway's summer with a 12-4 win in St. Henry.
Fort Recovery, set to face the loser of Marion and Minster, moved into today's 6 p.m. game against St. Henry.
An aggressive approach from Minster opened the scoring in the opening frame against Celina starter Mason Feister. Ty Hein singled to leadoff the rally, while James Kuehner needed just two pitches to bring Hein home on a double that found a gap in center field.
Minster's James Kuehner dives to make a stop during Wednesday's game with Celina.
Kuehner came around to score three batters later when Andrew Frimel's popup fell in between a triangle of Celina players in center. A wild pitch made it 3-0 after Carson Kaylor dashed home ahead of a tag from catcher Jett Warner.
Feister settled down over the next two innings to allow his team time to find a breakthrough in the third. Warner reached first when his grounder was under the glove of Kuehner at shortstop to open the inning. After Warner stole second, Simon Schwartz delivered one of his three hits to get Celina on the board and make it a 3-1 game.
The momentum carried over into the fourth as the Bulldogs grabbed the lead. Braylon Steinbrunner roped a single into left field, and Aiden Stachler did not make the infielder wait long to come home as a double down the line at third made it 3-2.
Celina's Braylon Steinbrunner crosses home plate during Wednesday's tournament game with Minster.
Brycen Aller came through later in the inning with a grounder to tie the game, while Ohyn May put the Bulldogs in front 4-3 on a two-out knock that was grounded to left. Celina carried that lead into the sixth inning, and with Steinbrunner on the mound, Minster needed to come through.
The Wildcats responded with their best inning since the opener and grabbed the lead with timely swings. John Inskeep led off the frame with a single, while a walk to Frimel put two on. While Steinbrunner picked up a pair of strikeouts to almost end the threat, a double from Jon Bergman just got past Feister in left to plate both runners and give Minster a 5-4 lead.
Celina had yet another answer in the home half of the inning, as five hits led to another lead change. Ohyn May delivered the first blow with a single that scored Aller and tied the game, and the Bulldogs jumped in front after Schwartz came through with a double to center to give them a 7-5 lead.
Steinbrunner helped his own cause with a single that was poked to left field and scored Schwartz. Steinbrunner then returned to the mound in the seventh looking to close it out up three.
A quick two outs settled some nerves in the dugout, however the drama was not quite over after Carson Kaylor's single to shortstop. A crack from the bat of Inskeep looked to keep the rally going, but Feister's stumbling, diving, effort in left ended the game as he popped up with the ball in his mitt.
Steinbrunner got the win for his three innings of work that saw him give up two runs off three hits, but collect three strikeouts. Feister threw a strong four innings where he gave up three runs, one earned, and struck out six.
Mason Feister pitches against Minster.
"(Feister) threw over 30 pitches in the first inning and I thought 'man this isn't good', but then he settled in the next few innings," said coach Steinbrunner. "Then in the seventh he makes two outstanding catches in left field to seal the game. He was great today."
Schwartz led Celina with three hits and three RBI, while Warner, May, Steinbrunner and Stachler had multi-hit games.
Minster saw its five hits scattered across the lineup, while Bergman's two RBI led the effort.
St. Henry 2, Coldwater 1 (8 innings)
Owen Werling scored on a passed ball with two outs in the top of the eighth to send the defending ACME state champions into a matchup against the Bulldogs.
Werling led off the eighth by drawing a walk off Briggs Howell. After a wild pitch moved Werling to second, Cooper LaGuire grounded out to third for the first out as Werling moved to third. Howell then struck out Ian Schwieterman to bring up Tate Boeckman. The first pitch went for a passed ball, allowing Werling to score the tiebreaking run. Boeckman then singled to bring up Jack Fullenkamp, but Howell struck him out to end the threat.
Fullenkamp, who came on in relief of Boeckman in the fifth inning, started the bottom of the eighth by striking out Owen Stough, then enticing Howell to ground to third. Charlie Stammen stepped in and singled to center. Stammen tried to stretch the single into a double, but the throw to second was on the mark to end the game.
The teams were scoreless until the bottom of the third when the Cavaliers got a run across. Karsyn Homan led off with a walk. St. Henry pitcher Boeckman got two quick outs, but then Boeckman walked Bennett Spriggs and Stough to load the bases. The first pitch went wild, allowing Homan to score the opening run before Briggs Howell walked to reload the bases. Boeckman got out of further trouble by getting Charlie Stammen to fly out to end the inning.
St. Henry rebounded in the top of the fifth as Austin Zimmerman led off with a single. Howell got back-to-back strikeouts, but Owen Werling grounded to third, with an error allowing Zimmerman to score.
Howell took the hard-luck loss despite scattering two hits and two walks over eight innings with 12 strikeouts. Homan had the lone extra-base hit of the game, a double.
Fullenkamp struck out seven and did not walk a batter over his five innings of relief. Boeckman walked five, but scattered three hits and struck out four in his three innings on the mound.
Boeckman and Zimmerman had the lone Redskin hits.
New Bremen 12, Parkway 4
The Panthers jumped out early as Jacoby Triplett led off the game with a hard shot to third that went for an infield single. After Triplett stole second and the Cardinals got two straight outs, Cooper Tangeman blooped a single to the outfield between first and second, allowing Triplett to scamper home for the first run of the day.
New Bremen countered in the bottom of the second as Levi Grevenkamp led off with a single. Triplett got a strikeout, but Brady Pape singled. Triplett got another strikeout and then got Tommy McNaughton to swing at strike three, but the pitch was wild, allowing McNaughton to reach first and Grevenkamp to trot home. Reece Mummey then walked to load the bases for Dylan Burden, but Triplett got his fourth strikeout of the inning to avoid additional trouble.
The Panthers quickly regained the lead in the top of the third. Triplett reached first on a dropped pop fly to shortstop, with an errant throw allowing Triplett to go to second. Mummey quickly got the next two outs before Tangeman got his second straight RBI single to score Triplett to make it 2-1. Bosten Korte followed with a single to put runners on the corners for Jack Ross, who singled to load the bases. Mummey was able to get a strikeout to end the threat.
Triplett helped his own cause in the fourth with a two-out solo home run over the fence in left-center, but the Cardinals came back in the bottom of the fourth. Eli Cathcart hit a one-out ground rule double off reliever Isaac Beveridge and went to third on a wild pitch. McNaughton walked to bring up Mummey. A wild pitch and error on a throw brought both baserunners home to tie the game again at 3-3.
The Cardinals put the game out of reach in the bottom of the fifth. Grevenkamp, August German and Pape drew walks to start the inning. Rowen Knapke was called in from left field to try and get out of the jam, but promptly hit Cathcart with a pitch to score Grevenkamp for the go-ahead run. McNaughton then walked to bring home Garman, with Mummey singling home Pape to take a 6-3 lead. Burden then walked to score Cathcart before the Panthers were able to get the first out of the inning. Tyce Quellhorst followed with an RBI single to score McNaughton. Grevenkamp returned to the plate and lofted a fly to center to score Mummey to wrap up the scoring.
The Cardinals added six more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Pinch-hitter DJ Ross and Burden each had an RBI single and another run came home on a wild pitch.
All that remained was for Mummey, who entered the seventh with 94 pitches, to close out the game. The Panthers made it a challenge as Triplett doubled and scored when Beveridge reached on an infield single with the throw to first bouncing to allow Triplett to score. Rowen Knapke added a single before Mummey called on his final burst to get three straight outs to end the game with 10 strikeouts and no walks.
Triplett scored all four Panther runs in the contest.
