Cooper Tracy celebrates with his teammates after a big night on the mound and at the plate as Olentangy advanced to the final four. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Logan Gapen)
Scuffling at the plate the past two games, Cooper Tracy ripped a two-RBI double as part of a three-run, four-hit explosion in the seventh, lifting Olentangy over Grove City 4-2 for its first regional title since 2006. He also got the pitching win in relief.
Lancaster, OH – The biggest day in the lives of about 30 Olentangy baseball players and coaches did not start so well. But, as the old William Shakespeare phrase goes, “All’s Well That Ends Well.”
On the way down U.S. Route 33 to Al Beavers Field for its Division I regional championship game against Grove City, the team bus got a flat tire and had to pull off the highway into a Kroger grocery store parking lot in Canal Winchester for roadside assistance.
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Meanwhile, most of the team walked to a nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken for a bite of lunch and to wait on parents and fans to carpool them the remaining 18 miles to Lancaster.
Site officials delayed the first pitch by 10 minutes.
“You could say it was a chaotic day,” Braves senior second baseman Cooper Tracy said. “But we never let anything get us down. We just keep going no matter what.”
It didn’t end there. With Olentangy leading 1-0 in the third inning, the game was delayed nearly an hour by a few seemingly distant lightning strikes and thunder claps that later brought light showers.
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“We had the momentum at the time, so the delay probably affected us the most,” senior shortstop Carter Hire said, “but what are you going to do?”
Ultimately, Olentangy had to stage its first seventh-inning rally of the season with a three-spot to overtake Grove City 4-2 and earn only its second regional title and first 2006.
The Braves (22-7) – seeded fourth in the Central District tournament behind the other three Olentangy district schools – will face West Chester Lakota West (24-7) at 4 p.m. June 14 at Thurman Munson Stadium in Canton. The title game is slated for 4 p.m. the following day at Akron’s Canal Park. Lakota West edged fifth-ranked Olentangy Liberty 1-0 and top-ranked Cincinnati Moeller 3-2 to reach the final four.
“That’s the same kind of adversity and toughness we’ve showed all year,” Olentangy coach Ryan Lucas said. “The kids did a great job of being locked in and ready to play. That last inning is basically who we are.”
Carter Hire hauls the mail toward third to score the go-ahead run during the Braves’ seventh-inning rally.
In the bottom of the sixth, Grove City pushed ahead the go-ahead run. Leadoff hitter Carson Stickley was hit by a pitch. Tracy then came in to relieve starter Cameron Birch.
Tracy attempted to pick off pinch-runner Landon Haskins, but overthrew first baseman Luke Chilicki. Haskins scampered all the way to third.
A long fly out by Gavin Lawler brought home Haskins and put the Greyhounds (21-10) within three outs of the title.
“Not my greatest inning of work,” Tracy said.
Kaleb Rice led off the Olentangy seventh with a single up the middle. Pinch runner Colton Shultz advanced to second on a wild pitch, then went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ty Walburn.
Carter Hire and Rocco Bucci ripped almost identical back-to-back singles up the middle, setting the stage for three-hole hitter Tracy, who went 0-for-4 in the semifinal win over Olentangy Berlin and had struck out twice and hit into a fielder’s choice in his first three at-bats Thursday.
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“I knew Cooper was frustrated with himself for struggling at the plate the past couple games and for allowing the run in the seventh, but when he got up to the plate, I could see by his posture he was confident and ready to deliver,” Lucas said.
After faking a first-pitch bunt attempt in hopes of drawing the Greyhounds’ defense in, he hit a foul ball, then smoked a two-RBI double to the right center field fence.
Is destiny on the horizon? The Braves have played lights out after a slow start to the season, with just two games to go to grab the ultimate title.
“I was just trying to hit something,” Tracy said. “The pitcher (reliever Dylan Farley) hung a curveball right over the plate and I got all of it.”
To that point, Olentangy had managed just four hits, but doubled that total in the seventh.
Hire said he and his Braves teammates were confident they could generate a rally against the two Greyhounds relievers they faced in the seventh.
“Both of them wanted to throw their curveball, but they were leaving it high in the strike zone so we attacked,” he said.
Cooper then set down Grove City in order in the bottom of the seventh, striking out two, to set off a massive celebration.
Bucci, the team’s ace left-handed pitcher who was masterful in district final and regional semifinal outings, banged out three singles and an RBI to pace the offense.
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Grove City managed just three hits off Birch and Tracy.
It’s always about your support system, making moments like these even more memorable.
“I thought we had it,” Greyhounds coach Ryan Alexander said. “All we had to do was get their eight and nine hitters out in the seventh and we couldn’t do it.
“Hats off to Olentangy. They absolutely went out there and earned it. We didn’t hit well, and when you let somebody hang around, anything can happen. We play aggressively on the base paths and we had a couple baserunning errors that hurt us, and we didn’t get the big hit on the few opportunities we had.”
It marked the 15th win in the past 16 games for Olentangy, which went 10-15 in a miserable 2024.
“Making the final four is something I’ve been dreaming about forever,” Hire said. “I watched my brother (Brandon) play here for a long time and hoped he would get the chance. To get this opportunity is amazing.”
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