You can't get any tighter than a one-run victory, and that's the margin by which both Charleston Catholic and Valley emerged with Class A sectional wins over the weekend.
You can't get any tighter than a one-run victory, and that's the margin by which both Charleston Catholic and Valley emerged with Class A sectional wins over the weekend.
The Irish outlasted Man 6-5 in Region 4 Section 2 Saturday afternoon at Chapmanville, several hours after Valley eliminated Fayetteville 7-6 late Friday night in Region 3 Section 2 at Oak Hill.
All four teams in those games had already taken one loss, so postseason fortunes were hanging by a thread.
Catholic (27-7), the No. 2 team in the Gazette's state ratings, were in a precarious position after the No. 8 Hillbillies scored five times in the bottom of the fifth for a 5-2 lead, but rallied with four runs of their own in the top of the sixth to go up 6-5.
The Irish got their lead run when courtesy runner Sam McKown scored from third after the ball went to the backstop during a suicide squeeze bunt attempt. The pitch was high and inside, and batter Dominic Rendinell got out of the way.
Another stroke of luck - accomplished a day earlier - played into the hands of the Irish for the seventh.
Andy Hoyer, one of Catholic's two ace pitchers, was available for one inning of work because he'd only gone six innings the previous day in a 10-0 Catholic win over Man at Logan.
The only reason Hoyer had that one inning of availability was because his battery mate, catcher Drew Cable, slugged a three-run triple in the top of the sixth on Friday that gave the Irish a 10-run lead to shorten the game to six innings.
"That allowed Andy to be eligible, and it was key,'' said coach Bill Mehle.
Using that one inning judiciously, Hoyer retired the Hillbillies 1-2-3 in the seventh on Saturday to lock up the win and the sectional crown. Two of his outs came by strikeout.
The white-knuckle win sends the Irish into the Region 4 finals against Wahama next week. (There are no semifinal games in Class A Regions 3 and 4 because of a lack of teams to fill out those regions following recent consolidations).
The Catholic-Wahama game is set for March 24 at the University of Charleston's Triana Field, but that is also the night of Charleston Catholic's baccalaureate, so the Irish may request a change of date.
Following a close call with another ranked team, Mehle also wants the SSAC to look at ways at changing the format for teams advancing to regional play.
"You had two competitive teams [in the sectional], and it's a shame there's no format so both can get to that next level,'' he said.
"Charleston Catholic and Man played for a sectional title in basketball, then played in the first round of the state tournament. We've petitioned the SSAC to set up a similar format for baseball, so that two quality teams - if not more - can reach the regional. They want to limit the state tournament to four teams, and we think that's a disservice to the quality teams in our region.''
Valley had a similar great escape in its sectional after losing to Fayetteville last Tuesday at Bluefield State.
The Greyhounds (24-8) had to return to Bluefield two days later to beat Montcalm, then went late into the night at Oak Hill Friday, needing to beat Fayetteville twice in order to advance.
Valley won the first game 17-6, then held on for a 7-6 victory in the nightcap.
You can't get any tighter than a one-run victory, and that's the margin by which both Charleston Catholic and Valley emerged with Class A sectional wins over the weekend.
The Irish outlasted Man 6-5 in Region 4 Section 2 Saturday afternoon at Chapmanville, several hours after Valley eliminated Fayetteville 7-6 late Friday night in Region 3 Section 2 at Oak Hill.
All four teams in those games had already taken one loss, so postseason fortunes were hanging by a thread.
Catholic (27-7), the No. 2 team in the Gazette's state ratings, were in a precarious position after the No. 8 Hillbillies scored five times in the bottom of the fifth for a 5-2 lead, but rallied with four runs of their own in the top of the sixth to go up 6-5.
The Irish got their lead run when courtesy runner Sam McKown scored from third after the ball went to the backstop during a suicide squeeze bunt attempt. The pitch was high and inside, and batter Dominic Rendinell got out of the way.
Another stroke of luck - accomplished a day earlier - played into the hands of the Irish for the seventh.
Andy Hoyer, one of Catholic's two ace pitchers, was available for one inning of work because he'd only gone six innings the previous day in a 10-0 Catholic win over Man at Logan.
The only reason Hoyer had that one inning of availability was because his battery mate, catcher Drew Cable, slugged a three-run triple in the top of the sixth on Friday that gave the Irish a 10-run lead to shorten the game to six innings.
"That allowed Andy to be eligible, and it was key,'' said coach Bill Mehle.
Using that one inning judiciously, Hoyer retired the Hillbillies 1-2-3 in the seventh on Saturday to lock up the win and the sectional crown. Two of his outs came by strikeout.
The white-knuckle win sends the Irish into the Region 4 finals against Wahama next week. (There are no semifinal games in Class A Regions 3 and 4 because of a lack of teams to fill out those regions following recent consolidations).
The Catholic-Wahama game is set for March 24 at the University of Charleston's Triana Field, but that is also the night of Charleston Catholic's baccalaureate, so the Irish may request a change of date.
Following a close call with another ranked team, Mehle also wants the SSAC to look at ways at changing the format for teams advancing to regional play.
"You had two competitive teams [in the sectional], and it's a shame there's no format so both can get to that next level,'' he said.
"Charleston Catholic and Man played for a sectional title in basketball, then played in the first round of the state tournament. We've petitioned the SSAC to set up a similar format for baseball, so that two quality teams - if not more - can reach the regional. They want to limit the state tournament to four teams, and we think that's a disservice to the quality teams in our region.''
Valley had a similar great escape in its sectional after losing to Fayetteville last Tuesday at Bluefield State.The Greyhounds (24-8) had to return to Bluefield two days later to beat Montcalm, then went late into the night at Oak Hill Friday, needing to beat Fayetteville twice in order to advance.
Valley won the first game 17-6, then held on for a 7-6 victory in the nightcap.
The Hounds led 5-1 in the second game when the Pirates plated five runs in the bottom of the fifth to go up 6-5. Valley, however, responded with a pair in the top of the sixth to regain the lead, then went to one of its co-aces, Arik McGinnis, to seal the deal.
McGinnis worked the sixth and seventh innings, fanning four to close the door on Fayetteville.
"He was bringing it in there,'' said Valley coach Joe Craffey. "He gutted it out and did a good job. His arm is kind of tender right now.''
Fayetteville (14-21) nearly pulled off one of first real upsets in the Class A postseason, but couldn't maintain its early advantage.
"After we lost Tuesday night,'' Craffey said, "not many people gave us much of a shot. We had to come back and win three games [in two days]. Our kids stayed pretty level-headed. We didn't lose faith in them.
"When we got back to practice Wednesday, we thought we could still win three games and get out of it, but it's hard to convince 15-, 16-, 17-year-old kids of that sometimes. By the same token, they did a good job believing they could do it.''
Changing of the seasons
More reasons why the regular season is meaningless in baseball.
The two teams with the best records in the Kanawha Valley - Hurricane and St. Albans - combined to go 1-4 in their sectionals and were eliminated last week. In fact, Hurricane, with the area's most wins (27), was the first of the Valley's 13 teams to go under.
Meanwhile, the team with the worst record in the Kanawha Valley - South Charleston (8-24) - is still alive. The Black Eagles host Logan at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday in their winner-take-all sectional final game.
Line drives
Game to watch: One of the AA Region 1 semifinals pits top-ranked Point Pleasant (22-6) against No. 3 Ritchie County (24-3).Veteran John Marshall coach Bob Montgomery, in his 38th season, can get career victory No. 800 in the AAA regional finals against University.Wyoming East (24-5) has tied the school record for wins in a season first set in 2000.Parkersburg Catholic knocked off state-ranked Williamstown for its first sectional title in 10 years.Fairmont Senior has captured 11 straight sectional crowns.Reach Rick Ryan at 304-348-5175 or rickr...@wvgazette.com.
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