Tag Archives: Zsportslive.com

Baseball, Ottawa Fighting 63rd, Recap

63rd open season with victory

OTTAWA, OH – Ottawa Post 63’s first game of the season came with its fair share of challenges at times but when the darkness began to set in and the top of the 8th inning wrapped up the Fighting 63rd had outscored Troy 13-8.

Coming off of an 8-12-2 season and with just four players returning from last seasons squad the 63rd opened their first contest with a new lineup and opportunities to shine for their young club.

Kalida’s Brady Laudick got the start for Ottawa on the mound and surrendered four walks in the first inning, but saw just one turned into a run as he got a strikeout and a groundout from the bottom of the Troy order to help limit the damage against his team on the new scoreboard installed at Memorial Park.

Eight batters came to the plate for the home squad in the bottom of the opening frame and three would find themselves crossing home plate in the inning. Jackson Lammers (Miller City) got things going first as he doubled to the left field wall. Corbin Niese (Miller City) was issued a walk and Austin Swift (Kalida) singled to drive in a run. Ryan McCracken’s (Van Wert) RBI ground out to short and Austin Klausing’s (Kalida) sacrifice fly brought in the remaining two runners.

Troy Post 43, coming off of a 41-18 season last year that saw them reach the Great Lakes American Legion National Regional for the first time since 1970 came out swinging in the second inning as they plated five runs of their own to take a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the second.

Ten batters came to bat for Troy in the top half of the inning that began with a single from Frank Gnuca and ended when Gnuca grounded out to Lammers at short following every one of his teammates having had their turn on the offensive end against relief pitcher Jordan Tovarnak (Shawnee) who came in with one out in the inning.

Following a pair of scoreless innings on both side the visitors punched across a run in the fourth to take a 7-3 lead in the game.

Ottawa responded to their opponents marker in the fifth and sixth innings as they tallied eight runs to take an 11-7 lead into the seventh led by a triple and a double by Swift and McCracken to start the fifth, and a trio of singles by Niese, Swift, and Van Wert’s Ryan Stoller that followed up a leadoff double by Ada’s Brayden Sautter in the sixth.

Braden Nesbit (Tipp City Bethel/Muskingum) added the last run for Troy as he smacked a ball over the right centerfield wall to cut the Ottawa lead to 11-8 in the seventh before his next six teammates would be retired in order to end the game.

Corbin Niese singled to open the bottom of the seventh, Austin Swift was hit by a pitch on a 3-2 count, and McCracken singled in a run as all three would come around to score in the final Ottawa at bat before their turn came to an end.

McCracken finished the day 3-5 at the plate and with 4 RBI for the victorious Fighting 63rd (1-0) while Van Wert High School teammate Stoller finished 2-4 with a run scored and a walk on the day.

Lima Senior Junior Josiah Shoemaker (1-0) snagged the win for his squad while Noah Roswell (0-1) took the loss for Troy (2-3).

Troy will return home Friday night to begin WOL play as they take on Greenville while the Fighting 63rd are in Kalida for exhibition action against the Lima Locos at Holy Name Ballpark beginning at 7pm. Lima vs Ottawa can be heard live on: Zsportslive.com

Box Score:

Ottawa:

Jackson Lammers (Miller City): 2-5, 2 2B, RBI, 2 Runs
Corbin Niese (Miller City): 2-4, 1 BB, 3 Runs
Austin Swift (Kalida): 3-4, 2B, 3B, RBI, 3 Runs, HBP
Ryan McCracken (Van Wert): 3-5, 2B, 4 RBI, 3 Runs
Ryan Stoller (Van Wert): 2-4, BB, Run
Brady Laudick (Kalida): BB
Jordan Tovarnak (Shawnee): 0-1
Josiah Shoemaker (Lima Sr): 0-2
Noah Howell (Temple Christian): 1-1
Austin Klausing (Kalida): 1-5, 2 RBI
Nate Arrington (Ottawa Glandorf): 0-4, BB, RBI
Matt Bowden (Bluffton): 1-2
Brayden Sautter (Ada): 2-2, 2B, SB, RBI, Run

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Baseball, Recap, Zsportslive

Indians headed back to State

HAMLER, OH – Fort Recovery waited 62 years for their return trip to Columbus at the state baseball championships before heading back last season. The Indians will have to wait just a week this time before heading to the capital city as they defeated Kalida 11-1 to win the Hamler Division 4 Regional Championship on Friday night.

Jacob Homan gave Fort Recovery their first chance to put a run on the scoreboard at Patrick Henry high school with his line drive to centerfield, but Kalida’s Austin Swift had other ideas and kept the contest scoreless as he fired a perfect strike to catcher Jeff Knueve ahead of Jackson Hobbs who was tagged out to keep the game scoreless to end the opening frame.

Indians hurler Nick Thwaits kept the Putnam County League champions scoreless through their first three Regional Finals at bats since 2006 when they visited Columbus themselves with seven ground balls, a strikeout and a flyout. Of the five groundouts Thwaits forced Kalida into he himself was responsible for tossing out four straight runners on hits back to the mound.

Thirteen Ft. Recovery batters came to the plate in the third inning and seven came to score against the trio of Owen Recker, Trent Siebeneck, and Noah Lambert who each were tasked with facing a suddenly white hot Indian lineup.

Ross Homan led off the inning with a walk and was moved over on a Will Homan single to reset his squad to the top of the lineup before being brought into score on a Cade Wendel sacrifice bunt for the first run of the contest. Jackson Hobbs reached on a walk and proceeded to steal second base before being brought all the way around on a two run home run from Jacob Homan to right center that put Kalida in a 4-0 hole and chased Recker from the game.

Siebeneck’s first batter Hunter Boughman doubled and moved up to third when Kyle Schroer reached on an error. In all the Indians scored seven runs on three hits in the inning and forced Kalida to play from behind against their biggest deficit of the season against Thwaits.

Austin Klausing singled in the bottom of the third with one out but was left stranded as the Wildcats were victims of a strikeout of Trent Gerding and a groundout from Siebeneck.

Two more Indian runs came across in the top of the fourth inning and pushed the visitors advantage to 6-0 as Hobbs and Boughman came around to score on errors by Kalida.

Kalida put runners on the corners after Swift reached third on a pair of errors and Braden Decker walked, but were unable to cash in as Brady Laudick was another victim of a 1-3 putout by Nick Thwaits to put an end to the bottom of the fourth.

Noah Lambert led off the 5th for his team by singling and reached third on a passed ball and was driven in for Kalida’s only run of the game on an RBI single.

The final two runs of the game came in the top of the sixth for Ft Recovery to provide the games final margin of 11-1 and send the Indians (22-8) to Columbus where they will meet 21-9 Newark Catholic who knocked off top seeded Toronto 4-1 in 10 innings.

Kalida sees their season come to an end at 23-2.

Austin Swift finishes his high school career with 268 K’s, 3rd most in PC history behind Leipsic’s Ruben Gonzales (287) & Kalida’s Brian Klausing (294), his 105 K’s this season is tied 2nd in a season for Kalida with Ross Guisinger (record is 113 by Chad Ehrnsberger).

WP – Nick Thwaits (5-2)
LP – Owen Recker (1-1)

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Girls Basketball, OG Titans, Recap, Zsportslive

OG eliminates Celina

PAULDING, OH – Celina might have scored the first two points in their contest with OG on Thursday night but it was the Titans who added the next 18 as they jumped on the Bulldogs miscues and raced out to an 18-2 advantage they would never relinquish on the way to a 41-23 win.

For the second game in a row Titan Junior Lexi Schroeder tossed in a big first quarter as she scored half of her 12 points in the opening stanza. Kadie Hempfling, the WBL player of the year added all 7 of her points in the contest as well as OG rushed out to a seemingly insurmountable lead early on.

Celina found themselves with just a pair of makes from the field in the first half, a two pointer from Haley McGillvary and a triple from the hands of Caelyn Reineke in the second quarter. For the game the Bulldogs would connect on 6 shots from the field.

Leading 31-8 late in the third quarter the Titans gave up their only points of the games penultimate period, a make by Reineke with 1:19 left that put Celina in double digits.

Seven players for the Titans found themselves with points in the book on the night including Senior Dani Ellebrock who scored 5 of her 7 points in the final stanza and Carri Johnson who connected on a three point attempt as the WBL Champions finished off the contest with an 18 point win that will have them back on Saturday night to make their fourth straight District Finals appearance.

The Bulldogs see their season come to an end at 13-11 and were led in scoring by Caelyn Reineke who finished with 8 points.

Ottawa Glandorf (22-2) will take on 20-4 Wapak on Saturday night at 7pm in a rematch of their only WBL loss of the season. OG was led in scoring for the second straight contest by Lexi Schroeder’s dozen markers.

Scoring:

OG (41):

Carri Johnson 3
Dani Ellerbrock 7
Erin Kaufman 4
Mackenzie Meyer 1
Kylie White 7
Lexi Schroeder 12
Kadie Hempfling 7

FT: 6/20
3PT: 3 (Johnson, Hempfling, Schroeder)
TO: 13

Celina (31):

Mackenzie Moorman 1
Heather Heiby 7
Caelyn Reineke 8
Trish Dennis 3
Haley McGillvary 2
Kelly Stahl 2

FT: 6/10
3PT: 3 (Reineke 2, Heiby)
TO: 22

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Boys Basketball, Recap, Zsportslive

Bearcats storm past Bulldogs

COLUMBUS GROVE, OH – For the second straight game the Columbus Grove Bulldogs found themselves with an opposing team player in double figures early. Spencerville Junior Damien Corso scored 11 of his 15 points in the opening quarter and his team would never trail as they walked away with a 73-47 conference victory Friday night.

In addition to Corso the Bearcats finished the contest with three other players in double figures as Dakota Prichard (20), Mason Nourse (14), and Zach Goecke (12) finished with big games to help the visitors push their NWC record to 5-1 on the year and stay just a game behind league leader Lincolnview.

Spencerville found the net on 13 of their 29 first half shots and 4 of 7 from the free throw line as they found themselves on top by a 35-22 score. Columbus Grove was held to 9/24 in the opening two quarters and with just four players able to dent the score column.

Gabe Stechschulte connected on a trio of three pointers in the third quarter and finished with 13 points overall, but with Rece Roney in foul trouble throughout the game the Bulldogs were unable to keep the Bearcats out of the lane and from scoring on the fast break especially.

With the win the Bearcats (13-2, 5-1) have now defeated the Bulldogs (6-9, 0-5) four straight times and lead the overall series 29-23. Spencerville will play host to league foe Crestview on February 5th while Columbus Grove dips their toes into Putnam County League play as they are set to entertain Continental Saturday night.

Scoring:

Columbus Grove (47):
Baily Clement 7
Gabe Stechschulte 13
Xavier Aguirre 4
Grayson Flores 2
Logan Diller 11
Logan Ridenour 1
Rece Roney 6
Cody Johnson 3

FT: 4/6
3PT: 5 (Stechschulte 3, Clement, Diller)
TO: 13

Spencerville (73):

Mason Nourse 14
Damien Corso 15
Jacob Meyer 2
Zach Goecke 12
Gage Goecke 3
Dakota Prichard 20
Bailey Croft 7

FT: 5/8
3PT: 10 (Nourse 4, D. Corso, Z. Goecke, G. Goecke, Prichard 3)
TO: 5

JV: Columbus Grove 27-26

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Girls Basketball, OG Titans, Recap, Zsportslive

Titans close out 2015 with win

FINDLAY, OH – Behind a career high 14 points from Devon Warnecke and a second straight 20 point output from Kylie White the OG Titans defeated the Liberty Benton Eagles in Wednesday night’s non-conference matchup 56-52.

A pair of second quarter three pointers from Warnecke would give her 6 in the first half as OG pulled even with the Eagles at 19 with just seconds remaining in the opening half. Liberty Benton Junior Jensen Hiegel’s successful free throw with 1.2 seconds remaining put the home team on top 20-19 heading into the halftime break.

Senior PG Dani Ellerbrock got Ottawa Glandorf on the board in the third quarter as she picked up four of her 14 points in the game, but was forced to sit for the latter stages of the period when she picked up her fourth foul of the contest. Warnecke again stepped up huge for the Titans as she buried a triple and connected on a pair of free throws to help the visitors to a 13/30 shooting performance in the middle two quarters and a 36-34 lead going into the final stanza.

Ottawa Glandorf led most of the fourth quarter and pushed their advantage to double digits midway through behind an 8/9 output from the line from Warnecke and 11 from White before the Eagles began to cut into the lead. Three players scored for LB in the final period as Hiegel and Nicolette Devincentis poured in 16 points to keep things interesting in the final battle of 2015.

Despite cutting the lead to 4, the Eagles were not able to get any closer as a Devincentis three provided the final four point margin of victory for Ottawa Glandorf.

With the win the Titans improve their record to 9-1 on the year and will next travel to Perrysburg on Tuesday and Celina on Thursday night. Both games can be heard live on Zsportslive.com

Liberty Benton sees their record fall to 4-3 overall and will play host on Tuesday to Wapak before jumping into conference play by welcoming Arlington to town on Thursday.

Scoring:

OG (56):

Devon Warnecke 14
Carri Johnson 2
Dani Ellerbrock 14
Mackenzie Meyer 2
Kylie White 20
Lexie Schroeder 6

TO: 17
FG: 18/37

Liberty Benton (52):

Krista Simon 3
Savanah Richards 14
Jensen Hiegel 19
Nicolette Devincentis 16

TO: 18
FG: 14/32

JV: Liberty Benton 36-17

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Girls Basketball, Recap, Zsportslive

Titans snap streak

OTTAWA, OH – Ottawa Glandorf accomplished a feat Thursday night that no team in the Western Buckeye League has been able to do since January 2011, beat the Bath Wildkittens. With their 53-25 win the Titans were able to cease their opponents 43 game winning streak that has helped provide Bath with four straight undefeated league seasons and conference championships.

Neither team started particularly sharp in the first half as they traded possession of the basketball via the turnover bug through the first minutes of the contest. OG would find themselves with a 9-6 lead when the first period came to an end behind 7 of a career high 17 points from Senior PG Dani Ellerbrock including a banked three pointer to give Ottawa Glandorf a lead early on.

In the games second quarter the two teams would combine for 14 points and almost as many turnovers as OG finished the first half leading 15-14 but with 7 turnovers to Bath’s 6 first half giveaways. Only a pair of players for each team entered their first markers in the scorebook as well as OG was led by 3 each from Carri Johnson and Kylie White while the visitors were paced by 4 each from Heidi Craddock and Elysabette Andrews.

Fueled by a big performance on the defensive end from their starters the Titans were able to convert turnovers into points in the third stanza as Kylie White and Kadie Hempfling helped their squad post a 33-22 lead heading into the fourth and final quarter of play.

While it was Hempfling and White doing the damage in the third quarter it was Hempfling, who scored all of her 15 points in the second half and Ellerbrock who combined to help OG outscore Bath 16-0 at one point across the third and fourth quarters and push their lead as high as 30 points late in the contest.

With the game at hand midway through the final 8:00 the Titans began to pull their starters and coast to a 53-25 win, their first in eight tries dating back to their last win in the series on January 8th, 2008 (79-77) when Senior Dani Ellerbrock was just a 4th grader.

Bath (5-2, 1-1 WBL) has now dropped back to back games this season and will look to regroup before they take on Versailles in a non-conference battle next Tuesday, December 15th.

Ottawa Glandorf (6-0, 2-0 WBL) will be off until Thursday, December 17th when they travel to Van Wert to take on the Cougars in a Western Buckeye League contest that can be heard on www.zsportslive.com beginning at 7:15pm with myself and Dave Boninsegna on the call.

Scoring:

OG (53):
Devon Warnecke 2
Carri Johnson 3
Dani Ellerbrock 17
Kylie White 12
Lexie Schroeder 4
Kadie Hempfling 15

Turnovers: 11

Bath (25):
Kennedy Fagan 2
Jaidyn Hale 4
Lindsey Singhaus 2
Bailey Dackin 1
Heidi Craddock 10
Elysabette Andrews 6

Turnovers: 23

Scoring by Quarters:

OG: 9-6-18-20
Bath: 6-8-8-3

JV: OG (3-3) 38-30

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Football, Recap

Jefferson claws past Spencerville

DELPHOS, OH – For the second week in a row the Delphos Jefferson Wildcats have defeated their Route 66 rivals, but this win will send the Bearcats home to break out the basketballs.

By an almost identical score as last weeks 26-10 regular season finale win the Wildcats got a field goal early and added to it late to eliminate the Bearcats 24-10 in front of a packed crowd at Stadium Park.

Despite their first two drives using 24 plays the Bearcats were unable to dent the Delphos endzone and were forced into a pair of turnover on downs as their fourth down passes from Senior QB Mason Nourse fell incomplete. In the first half Nourse was unable to connect with any of his six passing attempts that could have given Spencerville a chance to take the lead.

Jefferson took a 3-0 lead with 2:32 to go in the opening period with a 17 yard field goal from kicker Gage Mercer to cap off a 12 play 60 yard drive.

With Spencerville, the NWC’s #1 total offense struggling to move the ball midway through the second quarter the Jeffcats took advantage and pushed their lead to 9-0 on Hunter Binkley’s 19th rushing touchdown of the season, a 2 yard trek through the visitors defense with 2:12 left in the half. An attempted 2 point conversion pass on the following play landed incomplete for Jefferson to keep the lead at 9.

Moving quickly and with just one timeout the Bearcats found themselves on their last drive of the first half having to settle for an attempted field goal of 43 yards from kicker Damon Blair, but had it blocked before it could gain much air to send the Cats scoreless into the halftime break.

Hunter French thwarted Jefferson’s attempt to add to their lead in the opening moments of the games penultimate stanza as he picked off Jace Stockwell’s pass and returned it to the home teams 25.

Spencerville finally got themselves on the board at 9-3 just a few plays later as Blair connected on a 35 yard field goal that just skimmed the top of the crossbar with 8:40 remaining in the third.

Starting at their own 48 yard line early in the fourth quarter the home squad pushed their lead out to 15-3 as Stockwell tossed his league leading 16th marker to wideout Drew Reiss. On the ensuing two point conversion attempt the Wildcats were successful as Jace connected with Brenen Auer for the extra two points to make the score 17-3 with 9:11 remaining.

Despite time not being on their side and with just a pair of timeouts remaining, the Bearcats scored their first touchdown in seven and a half quarters against the NWC’s best defense when Mason Nourse’s 9th touchdown pass of the season connected with Damien Corso to see the score rise to 17-10 with 3:56 to go in the contest.

Although it seemed as if the Bearcats were able to recover the onside kick that followed, they were tagged with an illegal procedure penalty as the ball did not travel 10+ yards.

With the ball at the Spencerville 45 yard line and just over 3 minutes remaining, the Jeffcats used just 4 plays to pick up the games final score, a 7 yard rush by Hunter Binkley, his 20th of the season.

2012 is the last time the Bearcats have defeated their rivals, and with this defeat see their season come to an end at 9-2 and with both losses at the hands of the three time defending NWC Champions.

Delphos meanwhile ups their record to 10-1 overall and will take on 11-0 Mechanicsburg at a location to be released by the OHSAA later today at 2:30pm next Saturday night at 7pm.

Game Stats:

Total Offense: Spencerville 236, Jefferson 287
Passing: Spencerville 2/9 for 19 yards 1 td, Jefferson 4/8 for 46 yards 1 td/1 int
Rushing: Spencerville 217 yards on 57 carries, Jefferson 241 yards on 44 carries
Penalties: Spencerville 2/15, Jefferson 5/65
Turnovers: Spencerville 0, Jefferson 1
Punts: Spencerville 2/69, Jefferson 2/56
TOP: Spencerville 27:49, Jefferson 20:11
First Downs: Spencerville 16, Jefferson 14
3rd Down Conversions: Spencerville 10/19, Jefferson 4/10
4th Down Conversions: Spencerville 2/4, Jefferson 2/2

Individual Leaders:

Passing:
Mason Nourse (SV) 2/9, 19 yards, 1 td
Jace Stockwell (DJ) 4/8, 46 yards, 1 td/1 int

Rushing:
Mason Nourse (SV) 8 rushes, 61 yards (7.6 avg)
Hunter Binkley (DJ) 20 rushes, 150 yards (7.5 avg), 2 td

Receiving:
Damien Corso (SV) 1 rec, 15 yards, 1 td
Ryan Goergens (DJ) 2 rec, 35 yards

Defensive:
Zach Goecke (SV) 10.5 tackles, 1.5 tfl
Dalton Hicks (DJ), 11.5 tackles, 2.5 tfl

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Baseball, Recap

Toledo advances in Legion Tournament

OTTAWA, OHIO – The Toledo Hawks Legion team didn’t need any hits in the early innings but were still able to push across a pair of runs as they jumped on the Ottawa Fighting 63rd early in their 6-1 win.

The home team on the scoreboard by virtue of winning a coin flip, the Hawks leadoff hitter Chase Lawniczak (Toledo Whitmer) reached first base on an error by Ottawa first baseman Ben Dietering to open the bottom half of the first. Another error, this time by third baseman Brad Stolly and a pair of fielders choices by Colin Boerst and Ryan Moebius would later bring to the plate the two runs.

Tristan Faunce (Central HS) would throw six strong innings in the game, and not give up his first hit until a single by Ottawa centerfielder Tristen Becker (St. Marys) as the second batter of the sixth inning. Becker would be caught attempting to steal second before Jared Davis walked and later came around to score on an Adam Purdy single to bring the Toledo lead down to 2-1.

Brad Croy (OG/BGSU) would find himself in trouble in the bottom of the same inning, move over to shortstop as he was replaced by Columbus Grove alum and 1st team NWC/PCL selection Elisha Jones on the mound. Despite being in the middle of the infield now, Croy would be charged with a pair of runs in the inning as two runners he had seen reach on an error and a double came around to score to push the Toledo advantage to 4-1. Designated Hitter Joe Dandino (Central HS) would also come around to score in the inning to make it 5-1, but he was charged to Jones.

The last run of the game would come in the bottom of the 7th inning as Boerst was driven home on a single by Moebius after successfully stealing second base on the previous at bat.

Following Tristan Faunce’s departure after six strong innings, future University of Michigan left hander Preston Due would take over on the bump and toss three scoreless innings against Ottawa. In his time on the mound, Due would surrender just one hit, a single by Stolly.

Toledo with the win advances to play Napoleon at 6pm tonight in Ottawa with the winner of that game meeting the winner of the Findlay vs Pemberville contest on Saturday at Findlay High School.

Ottawa drops to 8-11-1 on the season with the loss and will meet the loser of tonight’s aforementioned Findlay/Pemberville contest on Friday night at Flag City Field at 7pm, a game that can be heard live on www.zsportslive.com.

Box Score:

R-H-E
Ottawa 1-4-3
Toledo 6-8-1

WP: Tristan Faunce: 6.0 IP, 6K, 2 Walks, 1 run allowed
LP: Brad Croy: 5.1 IP, 4K, 3 Walks, 5 Runs allowed (2 earned)

Batting:

Ottawa:

Becker 1-4
Davis 0-3, Walk
Croy 1-4
Purdy 1-3, Walk, RBI
Fitzgerald 0-4
Dietering 0-3, Walk
Stolly 1-3
Warnecke 0-1
Jones 0-3
Kersh 0-1
Dockery 0-2, Walk
Sheperd 0-1

Toledo:

Lawniczak 1-5, Walk, SB, Run
Denman 1-5, Sac Bunt
Kaucher 0-5, SB, Run
Boerst 0-4, Walk, Run
Lankard 0-3, Walk
Moebius 1-4, RBI, Run
Neary 2-4, Run
Dandino 1-4, Run
Grady 2-3, RBI, Walk

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Baseball, Recap

Fighting 63rd survives late Greenville rally

OTTAWA, OHIO – The Ottawa Fighting 63rd got up early in their matchup against the Greenville Legion squad but had to get a couple of key outs as they held on for an 11-10 six inning win Thursday night.

Ottawa got things going in the home half of the first inning as St. Marys’ Tristen Becker who opened the frame by slapping a single into the outfield off of Greenville starter AJ Bowers (Greenville HS) came around to score to make it 1-0. Brad Croy (OG) who reached on a dropped ball in centerfield also came around to score moments later on an error. 2nd team Putnam County League selection Fred Shepard (Continental) added the innings final pair of runs as he drove in a pair on a single to make it 4-0 Ottawa heading to the second inning.

After getting an inning opening strikeout of Greenville DH Tanner Maples (Tri-Village), Ottawa starter Adam Purdy (Elida) hit Quintin Wood (Greenville HS) to put him on base. Moments after putting Wood on first, Purdy started a 1-3-4 doubleplay as he fielded a sacrifice bunt attempt from Cole Burell (Arcanum) perfectly to get out of the second with no damage.

With 9 hitters coming to the plate in the first inning, Ottawa found themselves in the same spot to begin the bottom of the second inning, with the top of their lineup at bat. Becker, who finished 3-3 with a walk on the day doubled this time around and was driven in by Bath’s Jared Davis to put the score at 5-0 after two full innings.

Reese Hunt (Greenville HS) got the first Greenville hit of the contest in the 3rd but saw three of his teammates strike out and leave him stranded at first base.

A scary moment in the game took place in the bottom of the second inning when 63rd catcher William Kleffner (Shawnee) was injured chasing a foul ball back to the backstop. On the play Kleffner hit hard against the brick backstop and was taken via ambulance to the hospital in Lima to be examined.

Miller City’s Jackson Lammers took over in the 7th spot for Kleffner (Brad Stolly of LCC moved from 3rd to catcher on the switch) and immediately paid dividends as he singled. Lammers would find his way to 3rd base and be driven in by Becker to make it 6-0 Ottawa after 3 innings complete.

Kory Baker (Arcanum), and Brad Caudill (Fairlawn) would be the first two runs of the game for Greenville as they were driven in by Wood. Wood himself would come around to score after he stole home to cut Ottawa’s lead to 6-3 in the middle of the 4th inning.

Brad Croy (OG, 2015 WBL POY) began the bottom half of the inning for Ottawa by looping a ball into right field over the head of secondbaseman Chantz Martinez (Piqua) but was gunned out at first as rightfielder Logan Elmore (Tri-County North) fired a dart to nab him at first base and keep him off the bases.

Adam Purdy would account for the only run of the inning and push the score to 7-3 when he was driven in on an RBI double by OG’s Ben Deitering.

Baker who finished 2-3 with a hit by pitch in his last at bat scored a run on a Caudill RBI 5-3 groundout in the 5th to cut the lead to just 7-5 (Reese Hunt led off the inning with a walk and came around to score earlier in the stanza).

The fifth inning was especially kind to the Fighting 63rd as they increased their lead to 11-5 with runs by Becker (walk), Davis (RBI single), Croy (RBI single) before they saw their inning end on a lineout by Lammers to the shortstop Burell.

In their last chance at bat to lead off the 6th inning, Greenville would face two different pitchers in the inning in Deitering and Croy. 11 batters came to the plate in the inning with Burell, Martinez, Elmore, Hunt, and Baker all scoring runs in the inning. Burell’s second at bat of the inning would be the final out of the contest as he flew out to Kalida’s Austin Klausing to preserve the win for the Fighting 63rd as it was stopped following the 6th due to Memorial Field no longer having stadium lights and creeping darkness in the area.

Ottawa ups their record to 2-0 on the season and will welcome Whitehouse to town on Sunday for a doubleheader that begins at 1pm and can be heard live on Zsportslive.com. Adam Purdy went 4 innings, struck out 4, walked 5, hit a batter and gave up 4 runs to earn his first Legion win this season.

AJ Bowers (Greenville HS) took the loss for Greenville as he pitched 6 innings, gave up 11 runs, 9 hits, 3 walks, and 1 hit by pitch with no strikeouts. Greenville will travel to Xenia’s Athletes in Action Sports Complex to take on the Gem City Throwbacks on Saturday at 5pm in a scheduled 9 inning affair.

The two teams will meet again on July 7th at GTI Field at 7pm.

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Baseball, Recap

Errors doom Wildcats

KALIDA, OHIO – Austin Swift threw 115 pitches, 21 first pitch strikes and struck out 15 Holgate batters and gave up just one hit but found himself taking his first loss of the season as a handful of errors accounted for 3 runs in the teams 4-1 Sectional Finals loss on Wednesday night.

Swift had it working on the mound early as he began the game by sending five of the first six Tiger hitters down in order via the strikeout.

A pair of singles came across for the Wildcats in the first two innings, including a single by Swift himself but were turned into runners left on base as Holgate starter Everett Klingshirn finished those two innings with strikeouts of his own against Brent Hovest and Jeffery Knueve to end the threats and send the game 0-0 into the third inning.

In the third inning Matt Westrick the Holgate catcher began a trend for the visitors as after becoming the seventh strikeout of the game for Swift, he reached first on a dropped third strike, one of five on the evening by the Kalida catching staff.

With neither team able to put a run on the Holy Name Ballpark scoreboard through the first four innings, the game headed scoreless into the fifth. Zach Brown, the Tigers third baseman reached base on the second dropped strike three call and ultimately came around to score the games first run on a Matt Westrick sacrifice moments later. On the sacrifice bunt by Westrick, Swift came off of the mound to field the ball and saw it sail into centerfield while attempting to come up with a doubleplay to give Holgate the lead.

Westrick would come around to score three batters later on an attempted throw to first base that landed in right field from Brady Laudick who was making his first start behind the plate of the season. Ryan Okuley would ground out following a walk to Klingshirn to end the top of the fifth inning with the visitors on top 2-0.

Brent Hovest, battling a knee injury suffered the night before against Spencerville in a regular season game and relegated to DH duty laced a single into right field with two outs in the inning but was unable to move over as Colton Farrell struck out on four pitches to send the game into the sixth.

Following a 1-2-3 inning by Swift, including his 11th strikeout of the game the Wildcats again came to bat but were sent down with just three batters of their own coming to the plate including a 4-6-3 doubleplay off the bat of Knueve.

With one out in the inning, Holgate shortstop Jake Grim was walked by Swift on a 3-2 count and stole second base to give the Tigers a runner in scoring position as they headed back to the top of their order in the 7th. Grim would move over to third base on a groundout by leadoff hitter Dylan Pahl and come across the plate for the third Holgate run on a passed ball from Swift to replacement catcher Knueve.

Through 6 2/3rds innings and with his team trailing 3-0, Swift had managed to not give up a hit in the game as all of the baserunners had come from walks, errors or hit by pitch. Klingshirn, the opposing pitcher provided the only hit of the game for Holgate when he came up in the top of the 7th inning as he singled right back up the middle and drove in Szabo to put his team on top 4-0 with Kalida down to their last three outs for the season.

Brady Laudick led off the bottom of the 7th inning for Kalida with a double and came around to score on a Trent Siebeneck RBI single two batters later that cut the score to 4-1 Holgate. A walk to Austin Klausing and a fielders choice that moved him to third off of the bat of Knueve loaded the bases with shortstop and leadoff hitter Noah Lambert coming to the plate. Lambert would work the count full against Klingshirn but ultimately fly out to the Tigers hurler for the second out of the inning. Austin Swift struck out with the bases loaded on a full count pitch to end the game, and his teams season as the next and final batter.

Holgate (7-16) will move on to play Columbus Grove, winners 1-0 over Continental in their own Sectional Finals matchup Wednesday night. The Tigers and Bulldogs will do battle on Wednesday, May 20th at 4:15pm at Elida’s Ed Sandy Field in a game broadcast live on www.zsportslive.com. That game will be the second of two matchups at Ed Sandy Field as Miller City (7-1 winners over Fort Jennings), will take on Leipsic (6-0 victors over Ottoville).

Kalida sees their season come to an end at 18-6, Swift finishes his Junior campaign at 5-1. Klingshirn is now 3-5 for Holgate with the win as he goes 7 innings, strikes out 5 and gives up 1 run on 7 hits.

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