Amherst Steele’s Cole Marquez celebrates the Division I semi-final win over New Albany Friday at Thurman Munson Stadium, in Canton. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Julie McMaken Wright)
Landon Wolf’s two-run inside-the-park homer in the first inning set the tone for Amherst Steele’s 3-2 Division II state semifinal win over New Albany, but it was a 10th inning error that ultimately sent the Eagles home.
Canton, OH – To the credit of coach Michael Sandman and his New Albany players, no excuses were made – nor were they necessary – after a gut-wrenching 10-inning 3-2 loss to Amherst Steele in a Division II state semifinal Friday at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium.
They could have, mind you. A controversial two-run inside-the-park homer off the bat of Comets slugger Landon Wolf in the first inning will be talked about forever in both communities. So will a few other head-scratching calls by the men in blue.
Veteran central Ohio columnist Steve Blackledge writes the OCC and sports at large for Press Pros.
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But the bottom line remained that two fine ball clubs staged an instant classic, but it was top-ranked Amherst Steele (29-2) advancing to Saturday’s 7 p.m. title game in Akron against Whitehouse Anthony Wayne while New Albany (19-11) faced a long bus road home.
“Sure, it came down to a few bad bounces for us,” Sandman said, “but we had a lot of positive things happen out there today that we can hang our heads high about.”
Hard-luck starting pitcher Cam Simmons, who struck out eight in a warrior-like career-long 119-pitch eight-inning effort, was more reflective.
“We never wavered all year long and the guys responded today like the one big family are,” the lanky left-hander said.
So we’ll rewind this 2 hour, 30-minute game to the top of the first inning when all hell broke loose.
With Caleb Melendez on first with two outs, Wolf absolutely smoked a ball toward the right center field gap just a few steps in front of the fence. At first glance, right fielder Quinn Blaney appeared to make a sensational running catch near the fence. But while New Albany’s players started trotting out to their positions, Melendez and Wolf continued dashing around the bases.
It turns out that the umpires ruled that Blaney lost control of the ball after tangling legs with center field Van Routhier, then flipping the ball out of his glove hand to Routhier in celebration.
Amherst’s Landon Wolf’s first inning inside-the-park home run was controversial, questioned, and will be questioned for years.
“They said I didn’t secure it to the ground,” Blaney said. “I guess it was some kind of gray area in the rules.”
The play was disputed for several minutes. The first base umpire never signaled one way or the other whether it was a catch. Some viewing the replay from a television broadcast maintained that Melendez never touched third base before scoring the first run.
For Wolf, it marked a program record 53rd and 54th RBI on the season.
Sandman assumed that the ball was a catch and began thinking ahead to the bottom half of the inning.
“I looked away for a second, and the next thing I know it’s pandemonium out there,” he said. “The guy (umpire) out there said he didn’t take enough steps by rule to secure the ball before flipping it. All I can do is go back to the dugout and tell the guys we can’t let that stick with us. And I knew they wouldn’t.”
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The Eagles got a run back in the sixth inning as Grady Bush singled, took second on a balk, stole and scored when Steele pitcher Harrison Schneider hit Simmons in the back on an infield dribbler.
In the bottom of the seventh, Routhier walked and took second on a balk. Brayden Pettinger walked, chasing Schneider, who entered with a 9-0 record.
New Albany pitcher Cam Simmons gave a career-best effort…eight innings, 119 pitches.
Blaney hit into a fielder’s choice that Steele fans vehemently argued should have been a double play.
Jason Richardson then executed a safety squeeze, scoring Routhier with the tying run.
“We had guys on first and third and we got the third baseman in conflict,” Sandman said. “(Routhier) was part of the way down the line but it wasn’t a true break. We were trying to play some small ball. With their two arms – they’re big-time players – they were chucking it and we knew runs were going to be hard to come by. We were just trying to get guys in scoring position and make something happen.”
The stalemate continued thanks to a layout diving catch by Steele left fielder Cole Marquez off the bat of Joe Sokol in the ninth.
In the 10th, Marquez reached on a two-out boot at second base by Richardson that proved to be pivotal.
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Cole Charles doubled to the left center field gap, scoring Marquez with the go-ahead run.
“My first two swings are always big, like big hacks,” Charles said, “but then on two strikes I was like, ‘I can’t afford another strikeout.’ So I just tried to keep my weight on my back foot and drive it the opposite way.
Closer Cael Charles picked up his program record 11th win with four innings of no-hit relief.
Both teams managed only three hits.
“One thing we’ve done all year is take advantage of other teams’ mistakes,” Comets coach Matt Rositano said, “and we were able to do that in the 10th and get the win.
“If you would have put on my bingo card that Landon Wolf was going to hit an inside-the-park home run today, that would not have been on there. But, you know, he found the gap just enough to get it in and out of the right fielder’s glove. Caleb and Landon made a head’s up just to keep running. He’s done it for us all year.”
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