Come-from-behind victory by DuBois ends Juniors’ season
The St. Marys Junior League all-star baseball team saw their run in the District 10 Tournament come to an end on Monday evening on the road at Stern Family Field in DuBois as the DuBois team was able to rally and walk off with a 7-6 victory to win their best-of-three series for the District 10 title.
Cameron Coudriet pitched the first five innings for St. Marys, giving up three hits, walking five, and striking out two. Mason Nicklas took over for the remainder of the game, giving up four hits and walking two in his one and one-third innings of work.
Samson Deeb and Wes Clyde split time on the mound for DuBois and combined for a one-hitter. Deeb worked three and two-thirds innings, giving up one hit, walking eight, and striking out one. Clyde took over for the final three and one-third innings, walking two.
Jack Neil had St. Marys' lone hit of the game, a single in the fourth inning.
A pair of walks and an error gave St. Marys the baserunners that would score the team's first three runs in the top of the opening inning.
Frankie Smith drew a leadoff walk, Charlie Geci walked with one out, and Nicklas reached base on an error with two outs. All three went on to score to put St. Marys on the board leading 3-0.
Groundouts sent batters for DuBois down in order in the bottom of the inning.
Gideon Cronk drew a leadoff walk for St. Marys in the top of the second but then was erased for the first out as Smith hit into a fielder's choice. Smith would go on to score to increase St. Marys' lead to 4-0.
DuBois left a runner stranded in the bottom of the inning.
Neither team was able to get anything going in the third, and then St. Marys extended their lead to 5-0 with another run in the top of the fourth.
With two outs, Neil singled, and then Smith and Tysen Beimel drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. DuBois made a pitching change, and Geci was hit by a pitch to give Neil a free pass home. However, that would be the only run St. Marys would get in the inning as a flyout left the bases loaded.
DuBois got on the board with their first run in the bottom of the inning, making the score 5-1.
St. Marys left a runner stranded in the top of the fifth as Jayce Walter reached base on an error with two outs. DuBois pushed through two more runs to trim the locals' lead to 5-3.
Smith scored St. Marys' final run in the top of the sixth to put the team up 6-3, but DuBois once again answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-4.
Batters for St. Marys went down in order in the top of the seventh, and that set the stage for DuBois' rally for the win in the home half of the inning.
Clyde drew a leadoff walk, and then Grady Galiczynski joined him on base with a one-out single. A single by Noah
Farrell scored Clyde to cut St. Marys' lead to one run, 6-5. A double by Madix Clark scored both Galiczynski and Farrell to end the game and give DuBois the 7-6 walk-off victory.
The win also secured the District 10 title for the DuBois team. DuBois
won the opening game of the three-game series by a score of 9-4 on Saturday at Memorial Park in St. Marys.
Making up the St. Marys Junior League all-star team were Tysen Beimel, Wyatt Brem, Cameron Coudriet, Gideon Cronk, Charlie
Geci, Matthew Gilmore, AJ Himes, Louis Nedzinski, Jack Neil, Mason Nicklas, Frankie Smith, and Jayce Walter.
As the District 10 champion, DuBois advances to the Section 1 Tournament, which is scheduled to get underway on July 18.