Minster’s Corbin Ottman was called out when he was tagged by Ft Recovery’s pitcher Chase Wendel. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
Tate Kahlig said “gettin’ dirty” is his favorite part of playing third base. He took one last trip through the dirt to score Fort Recovery’s winning run against Minster in a defensive showcase.
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Minster, Oh – If you watched MLB All-Star events, you probably noticed the premium placed on manufacturing clips for social media. You can’t miss how the internet has affected sports, particularly youth sports.
Watch any 10U travel basketball game and you’ll see shot selection considered obscene just a decade ago. Every kid launching a 25-footer is seeing the Steph Curry highlight in his mind.
Alan Brads is a contributing columnist and writes sports at large for Press Pros Magazine.
In an era where sports are consumed via highlights and TikToks, most kids have forgotten what kinds of plays win games. Most kids, but not all.
Come to the Minster Classic and you’ll find an abundance of players who can field a ground ball, make a quick, prudent decision of where to go with it, and make the throw in time and on target. It’s simple, or at least it should be. But the expectation has faltered across the country. But not at the Minster Classic.
An 11U game between Minster and Fort Recovery was not a game of strikeouts and dingers. It was a simple matter of who could make the most outs with the ball in play. Both infields played exceptionally, well beyond their years. There were fewer errors in their six innings than in many high school games in the spring.
“My favorite part of pitching is knowing the whole team is behind me if I make a mistake.” – Chase Wendel
Fort Recovery rallied in the bottom of the sixth to snag a 6-5 walkoff win from the jaws of defeat. Fort Recovery third baseman, Tate Kahlig, got aboard with an infield single, worked his way around the bases, then slid home for the winning run after a sac fly off the bat of Marcus Staugler.
“I did pretty good compared to other games,” Tate said. That’s a humble description of a 3/3 day with the game-tying RBI and walkoff run.
It took a ball in the air to win it, because Minster’s infield was nearly perfect on ground balls. Shortstop Isaac Bohman vacuumed up everything in his zip code, and spit it out accurately with consistency. He recorded seven putouts with just one error on a tough play trying to gun down the tying run at the plate.
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Minster’s Second baseman, Carter Piening, provided air support with a spectacular grab over his shoulder while his twin brother, Camden, converged from right center field. Piening reeled it in and had the awareness to spin straight to first base and fire it in for a double play to end the second inning.
Tate Kahlig connects and also made the final run in a walkoff win over the Wildcats.
After teaming up with Bohman for a few outs at second base, Piening pitched the final four innings and held his own against a group of Indians that can rake.
Fort Recovery’s defense was equally stout. Starting pitcher Chase Wendel permitted two runs in three innings. He nabbed three comebackers, and jogged toward first to complete the outs with apparent ease.
“I was very accurate,” Chase said of what he did best on the mound. True enough, walks weren’t a concern for him, a great quality for a pitcher with a trustworthy defense.
“My favorite part of pitching is knowing the whole team is behind me if I make a mistake.”
Tate Kahlig was one of those reliable defenders behind Chase, but he also led the Indian offense with three hits, two RBIs and two runs.
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But Tate loves playing defense.
“I like gettin’ dirty,” he said when asked the best part about playing third base.
Regarding his favorite thing about baseball, he said what nearly every kid says. “Hangin’ out with my friends. We’ve been playing together since second grade.”
Minster’s Grayson Smith pitched three innings striking one and allowing 3 runs .
How many times have we heard that from the varsity players?
“My favorite part is being with friends and making new ones,” Chase echoed.
For 11-year-olds, it’s just fun to play with your friends. But as the years stretch on, roster consistency becomes chemistry, and chemistry becomes fast, fluid play, or as we call it in the infield, outs.
So it surprises nobody when the MAC and SCAL churn out well-oiled machines on defense year after year.
One player making a highlight reel catch fit to go viral on TikTok is great. But that doesn’t win as many games as every player doing the little things well every time. It takes a thousand bees to make a jar of honey.
It doesn’t have to be perfect all the time, but when mistakes are few and far between, they’re easier to redeem. Chase let fly a wayward pitch in the second inning with a runner on third, but sprinted into place to tag the runner out at the plate, saving a crucial run.
Tate said it best, “We made a few errors, but we fixed them all.”
Fort Recovery and Minster are both still in the running for the 11U championship, which will be played at 2:30 on Sunday. And over the years, they’ll be in the running for many more championships if they keep displaying what they showcased Thursday evening: consistency, hard work, initiative, teamwork, and sacrifice. That’s what makes for good defense … and, for that matter, good honey.
Minster’s right fielder Carter Piening makes the grab on a fly-ball then throws to first for the double play.
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