MAKING CONTACT — Jefferson County Post 33’s Landon Pownall connects with a pitch during Sunday’s Game 3 of the Ohio American Legion District 7 Series at the Edison Unified Sports Complex. — Andrew Grimm
RICHMOND — In a span of about 10 minutes, Jefferson County Teramana Post 33 experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows the game of baseball has to offer.
After scoring a run each in the top of sixth and seventh innings to go to the bottom of the seventh of Sunday’s Game 3 of the Ohio American Legion District 7 Series at the Edison Unified Sports Complex with a two-run cushion and a combined no-hitter going, Jefferson County saw its season come to an abrupt end as New Philadelphia came through with a couple of clutch hits for a 3-2, comeback, walk-off victory.
“They got a couple big hits at the end and we had the bases loaded and didn’t come through, that’s how baseball works sometimes,” Post 33 head coach Anthony Pierro said. “Congrats to New Philly, they played better than us at the end of the game, that’s what it came down to. They deserved it.”
With Jefferson County, which won Game 1 of the series on Saturday and drops the curtain at 18-16, ahead 2-0 and a steady rain falling from the fourth inning on, New Philadelphia used walks and a fielders choice to get the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the seventh, then got on the board when a balk was called when it appeared Post 33’s Kaden Jurosko slipped on the mound.
A hit batter again loaded the bases before the a pitching change.
“It may have (affected the game) a little bit,” Pierro said of the rain. “It (stunk) that it rained, but both teams had to deal with it and had to play through it and it’s definitely not an excuse.”
Chase Haver’s RBI single tied the game, then Maddox Brown’s grounder that just got past a diving Post 33 infielder’s glove sent the Black Sox (14-13) to the state tournament in Lancaster next week.
“We kept battling, we had some things not go our way … but the guys kept their heads up and came through,” New Philadelphia head coach Neil Nalawaei said. “We’re very happy, going to Lancaster is new territory for us. We’re a relatively new program and this shows that we can win and we have talent in our small little area. There are baseball players in New Philly.”
For Jefferson County, who battled a lot of adversity all season — including some key injuries late in the campaign — it was a tough pill to swallow but also a learning experience for a group that will return most of the lineup.
“From where we were at the start of the year, to where we are now, we made a lot of strides,” Pierro said. “We were a young team, we had one 18-year-old and two 19-year-olds, we had four or five injuries the last couple weeks, only 10 of the 15 players on our roster were (able to play Sunday),but the guys kept getting better and most of them are coming back. There is a lot of talent coming up, some new kids that can come out next year, too.
“We had a couple 14-year-olds step up and play, this was a big deal for the young guys to get experience all summer against older kids. Even though we came up short, we got better and I’m anxious to see what these guys can do in their high school seasons next year.
“Hopefully we come back next year with some vengeance.”
Gage Cline, who will be a senior at Edison, started for Post 33 and went four-plus, fanning two and holding New Philly out of the hit column until giving way to Jurosko, a Harrison Central product.
Jurosko came on with no outs and the bases loaded and got out of the jam, fanning the last two batters to keep the game scoreless through five.
In the top of the sixth, Post 33 broke through when Big Red grad and Malone University commit J.T. Thompson, who made a dazzling catch earlier in the game to save a hit, led off with a double and scored on Indian Creek grad David Ferroni’s RBI single for the game’s first run.
The was the only run to cross, however, as Post 33 left the bases loaded.
An inning later, after Jurosko retired the side in order, Thompson drew a walk and scored on Big Red teammate Zach Smith’s RBI knock to make it 2-0.
However, once again, the damage was limited to one run as Jefferson County stranded men on first and third, which proved to be costly when New Philly rallied in the bottom half.
“We had a good battle with them all season (the teams split in the regular season) and hopefully they can continue to have a team so we can keep battling with them and keep legion ball going,” Pierro said.
