Baseball’s fun, but it’s more fun when you win. Coldwater’s Mason Welsch (above) celebrates a winning moment in last week’s district round of the tournament. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Coldwater won the thriller of the tournament, so far, Graham is the biggest surprise of the tournament, and Russia and Minster portend to be the most locally anticipated matchup in a rematch of their 2017 Division IV title game.
I’m not going to lie when I say that the sectional, district, and regional rounds of the baseball tournament – at least to me – have been something less than inspiring.
Both hitting, and pitching, have been hit and miss; and I don’t remember as many run-rule games in the early rounds of the tournament as I’ve seen this year.
I, along with you who know baseball, have noticed a decline in the requisite skills necessary to play baseball at a competitive level, even at the high school level. We used to say that a certain player might not hit, but he’ll save you a run or two per game with his glove. Well, I haven’t seen that, either. Arm strength, overall, is lacking because kids don’t play as much baseball as they used to, or even throw the ball. And that’s how you develop arm strength.
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And it’s obvious that kids don’t think much of bunting anymore…what former OSU coach Bill Mosiello said about it: “They don’t want to so they’re not confident to do it in a game. I’d rather take my chances with hitting into a double play.”
All of which made what I saw Friday in the Division V regional final between Coldwater and Ottawa Hill something along the lines of exciting – certainly competitive. A pitching matchup between Coldwater’s Owen Kunk and Ottawa Hills’ junior Colin Hennessey, Hennessey nursing along a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning. And then a graduate level example of how good baseball teams determine their own destiny.
Coldwater’s Bennett Spriggs led off with a line-hugging single to left off Hennessey, then advanced on a throwing error, went to third on a Miles Pottkotter sac bunt, and scored the tying run on a Braxton Taylor fielder’s choice to second base, beating the throw to the plate. Taylor promptly stole second and Mason Welsch smoked the first fastball he saw from Hennessey to the wall in left center to drive in Taylor with the winning run.
In Bowling Green Division VII Minster similarly took care of business through the pitching of a dependable Lou Magoto, a 3-0 shutout of Montpelier, a team that won twenty games this spring, but not against the kind of competition that Minster won their twenty against.
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In Cedarville on Thursday Division VII Russia predictably blew out Cedarville, scoring 11 unanswered runs in the span of three innings to make the pitching of Maddox Goubeaux nearly inconsequential. But, Goubeaux showed the ability to throw strikes, and strikes with the breaking ball, which in Final Four play has made good teams pucker for decades. And a veteran offense, that has at times has been AWOL, show patience at the plate, taking walks, and hitting the fastball that they knew was coming.
No coach in Ohio has shown more priority for teaching community baseball than Minster’s Mike Wiss…31 years, and state titles in 2011, ’12, and ’17.
The day’s biggest surprise might have been the way Graham handled a good team from Ironton with a rich baseball legacy – 5-1, at Mason. You haven’t heard about them, but Graham has some athletes, and they have a pitcher named Hayden VanHoose who throws hard and throws strikes.
The area’s other prominent contender for the Final Four, Vandalia Butler, again ran aground at the regional level by falling hard to Hamilton Badin, 9-1. The irony of this game was that for years Butler struggled to get out of the regional round in Division I against Cincinnati-area teams. This time it was a Division III team, and a by-product of seven divisions…one of the state’s best baseball factories, that got ’em. Badin is better than most Division I teams!
A reader from northwest Ohio – Seneca County – wrote Friday to comment on four area teams from west-central Ohio within thirty miles of each other making it to Akron…asking if it was a coincidence.
It’s not a coincidence. Coldwater, Minster, and Russia are all coached by committed men who still make the game a community priority. And let’s not forget Wapakoneta, either, who beat Toledo St. Francis DeSales to advance to Akron in Division III. And I emphasize priority, because Cory Klenke (Coldwater), Mike Wiss (Minster), Chris Hardman (Ottawa Hills), Kevin Phlipot (Russia) and Trent Dues (Butler) have personally kept baseball a priority in their respective districts while commitment to the sport across the state has declined. It doesn’t make money, and it comes during the worst weather of the school sports calendar year. And none of us will ever live to see the day when the OHSAA plays baseball and softball in predictable, competitive conditions. It’s not a priority.
Ottawa Hills coach Chris Hardman is a hall of famer with more than 700 wins…nine times to the Final Four, and one state title in 1986.
In response to our commentary earlier in the week about the impact of seven divisions on high school baseball, another writer from Montgomery County wrote to say: “I, for one, am glad more kids are getting a chance to play in the tournament because it means more kids are having fun playing baseball. I think that matters more than being a state champion.”
Well, there’s a word for baseball like that, and it’s call intra-murals. You play for fun and there’s no pressure to win.
But there’s also no competitive value, either, that teaches the life lessons that help you get the job you want, the spouse you want, and life you want. And frankly, no satisfaction! And is it any wonder, in this day of diminished priority to compete, that kids go to the next level not knowing what they don’t know and finish 13-37 at Ohio State…because they’ve never had to worry about making the team, or compete with someone who wants something more than they do.
And if there’s any question about winning and fun, ask those kids from Ohio State!
Or ask those from Russia, Coldwater, Wapakoneta, Minster and Graham. Personally, I’m optimistic for them and excited to see them play, even Minster and Russia because only one of them is going to have fun.
Russia’s Braylon Cordonner will seek to lead the Raiders to their second OHSAA baseball title in four years (2022).
And truthfully, I felt badly for my friend and high school teammate Chris Hardman on Friday. It was a game that I wanted to see, but I didn’t want to write. Win or lose, either team, it was a moment that was destined to be hellacious for one, horrible for the other. But you flush it and move on, because in baseball, another example of why it’s more fun to play when you win, because games like that linger. We’ve all had them.
Finally, I’ll analyze the tournament in the simplest of baseball rationale.
Baseball is 80% about pitching, and each of the area teams going to Akron have pretty good pitching. It may not be the best pitching, but on a given day in baseball it doesn’t have to be. Anyone who’s ever pitched will tell you there are days when you won just by throwing strikes. Not 95 mph, or a curve like Nolan Ryan’s, but strikes.
Don’t walk people, don’t give up free bases, pitch to contact and trust your fielders to make plays. And that’s all you can do.
You might come to the plate in the bottom of the seventh with a chance to win, get the leadoff man on, get him into scoring position, and have Mason Welsch hit a ball off the fence in left center to drive him in with the winning run.
NOW THAT’S FUN!
And if you haven’t done it…you can’t know the difference.
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