The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Chagrin wins tightly contested battle
A playoff atmosphere was in the air when Chagrin Falls took on Mayfield in a nonconference clash on May 14.
The teams were named as No. 1 seeds for their respective districts and were looking for momentum with the tournaments starting next week.
After both starting pitchers allowed a run in the first inning, they settled down, and did not allow another run until
the bottom of the sixth. That run was scored on a throwing error, and won Chagrin Falls the game 2-1.
The Tigers finished the regular season at 20-4, while Mayfield fell to 20-3.
While Dawson Pierce of the Tigers allowed two hits and a run in the first, he only allowed one run for the rest of the game.
Coach Michael Sweeney still had faith that his starter was going to be fine.
“Sometimes Dawson gets a little wild,” said Sweeney. “They did hit him a little bit, but he still was performing well. He didn’t give them anything and he was pitching well. I knew that once he got his curveball going for strikes, he was going to be tough to hit. It was his demeanor that made me know that he was going to be in the zone.”
Even though Pierce was dealing from the mound, Chagrin Falls was unable to find a way to take the lead.
The Tigers loaded the bases in the fifth thanks to a trio of walks, but Mayfield’s Matthew Osler struck out Andrew Kirkpatrick to end the threat.
After a quick top of the sixth, Jack McMullen came to the plate.
The senior singled, and attempted to steal second shortly after. It seemed like he was set to be thrown out before reaching the base,
but the throw was just a little to high for the Wildcat second baseman to handle.
Not only did McMullen then advance to third, but would beat the throw home to give the Tigers the lead.
“I was just trying to get an angle to read what my coach was saying,” said McMullen.
“We always trust that coach is going to make the right call. He had a better view of it than I did so I trusted in him and was running as hard as I could.”
Finally getting the lead, the game now rested on the arm of Pierce.
He got one batter to fly out to right field and struck out the other two to seal the win for Chagrin Falls.
“My teammates did a great job of getting us the lead and that gave me a ton of confidence,” said Pierce. “We made a lot of great plays to get us the lead and to be able to generate a run like that late gave me the confidence I needed to know that we were going to win this game.”
Despite coming up short, Mayfield kept pace with Chagrin Falls thanks to their defensive performance.
Only a handful of balls escaped the infield, and minus the one error, they did a good job making it difficult for the Tigers to make any big plays from the plate.
A new infield for the
Wildcats performed well, according to Coach Darren Rapposelli.
“We had a brand new defense out there today,” said Rapposelli. “We wanted to give everyone opportunities leading up to the playoffs to see what they could do. They did a fantastic job until the pickoff play, and that came down to just execution and it’s the little things like that that we need to work on.”
Mayfield has one final tune-up for the playoffs when they take on Strongsville in nonconference play on May 17.
Chagrin Falls will play either Fairless or Lincoln West on May 19 in a sectional final.