Butler pitcher Hunter Richardson reacts to his game-ending strikeout Tuesday in the win over Kettering Fairmont. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Hunter Richardson won a pitchers’ duel against Fairmont’s Stevie Doty, and Austin Flohre won a seventh-inning at-bat against Doty to send the Aviators to a Division I district final Thursday in Mason.
Kettering, OH – Dramatic, tense, ugly at times.
That’s how Tuesday’s Division I district baseball semifinal between second-seeded Vandalia Butler and third-seeded Kettering Fairmont will be remembered, rehashed and replayed in the minds of many.
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But Butler’s Austin Flohre, maybe the most chill dude between the lines and more chill than anyone in Tuesday’s crowd, saw something aesthetically pleasing that no one else did.
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“That’s the beauty of baseball, man,” he said. “It’s competitive, it’s gritty, it’s a good time.”
And it was Flohre who kept his cool at the plate in the seventh inning against fiery Fairmont starter Stevie Doty who was locked in a heated mound duel with Butler’s Hunter Richardson. With two outs and a runner at second base, Flohre singled up the middle on a 1-0 pitch to send pinch-runner Landon Case home with the go-ahead run.
“He was throwing strikes all day, and he’s a heck of a pitcher,” Flohre said. “See what I get, and then I was able to stay on it, drive it up the middle. I just got enough on it to get it past the middle infield.”
Flohre wasn’t finished. He worked his way to third base and scored when strike three to Jackson Schilling went to the backstop and Schilling reached first base to continue the inning.
Richardson didn’t need the run, but it was a nice bonus.
“I felt good going out there,” he said. “I could relax a little bit and just throw my game.”
Richardson, the Aviators’ junior left-handed ace headed for Kentucky and the SEC, recorded his 10th strikeout for the final out to secure a 3-1 Butler victory.
Butler freshman Jackson Schilling acknowledges the dugout after hitting a double in the second inning.
“Great, great high school atmosphere,” Butler coach Trent Dues said. “Probably a little too much chirping went on. But as far as the game was concerned – the game was a great game.”
Loud chatter for your team and plenty directed at the opposition is part of high school baseball culture. However, by the middle of the game the home-plate umpire warned both dugouts not to make it personal. But the tone was what it was, and the drama grew as the score remained tied out after out.
“That’s what you want,” Fairmont coach Matt Adams said. “It was a game that you want to coach and it’s a game you want to play in, both teams competing with each other. It’s what was expected.”
Fairmont (22-6) shared the Greater Western Ohio Conference championship with Springboro. The Firebirds started quickly with a walk, a Doty double and a sacrifice fly by Asa Dunlevey for a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
“I was missing spots early, and then after those first two innings I was just really focused on throwing strikes, not trying to overpower them too much,” Richardson said. “You can’t miss spots. These guys are going to hit it. I think I did pretty good throwing strikes and getting outs.”
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Richardson kept the Firebirds down the rest of the game with only two more hits. And the Firebirds didn’t take advantage of four walks.
“Hunter kept his composure the whole way,” Dues said. “And he stayed with it. So kudos to him.”
While the Aviators had more hits find holes and produce runs, the Firebirds didn’t lose focus at the plate and often put the ball in play. But the Aviators made plays and didn’t give anything away.
Landon Case, a pinch-runner, scored the go-ahead run on Austin Flohre’s single and reveled in it with teammate Alex Ables.
“We hit a lot of at ‘em balls,” Fairmont coach Matt Adams said. “He struck a couple guys out, but I thought we hit the ball hard. They had a couple line drives that just barely got over gloves and ours barely went in the gloves. I was proud of our guys. I thought we did fine. We were not overpowered at all.”
With a 1-0 lead, Doty was on his way to 11 strikeouts.
“He came in hitting the mitt, he threw strikes, got ahead of guys a lot of times,” Adams said. “This is what we expect from Stevie. Get these hot days, and he just comes out on fire.”
Doty’s only blemish until the seventh came in the third when, with two outs, he walked Schilling and Alex Ables. Max Rubins followed with an RBI single to tie the score 1-1.
And there the score stayed until the seventh when Flohre calmly singled in the go-ahead run and scored the insurance run.
The Aviators (23-6) will try to win their first district title since 2021 when they play Loveland at 5 p.m. Thursday at Mason High School.
“We got an opportunity,” Dues said. “We got some pitching left. All the teams are good now, so we got to keep playing really good baseball.”
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