Adams Central tops South Adams; falls short against Bishop Luers
The Adams Central Jets raced out to a big lead and held on late to defeat the South Adams Starfires on Saturday, but could not bring home a sectional title against a tough Fort Wayne Bishop Luers Knights squad.
For most of Saturday’s contest, things could hardly have been going better for the Jets.
Logan Uhlman led off the bottom of the first with a triple, then scored on a double off the bat of Cade Van De Weg to open the scoring.
In the second, Ethan Poling hit a line drive to left field that resulted in a run-scoring double. Adams Central (17-9, 3-3 Allen County, 2-1 IHSAA) extended their lead to three runs when Poling scored on a fielder’s choice.
Ryan Black scored on a passed ball an inning later to push the lead to 4-0.
South Adams (17-13, 2-4 ACAC, 1-1 IHSAA) got one back in the top of the fourth on a successful squeeze bunt by Hunter Kongar, but the Jets answered in a big way in their half of the fourth.
After Poling reached on a single, Jack Hamilton launched a ball to left field where the Bluffton Tigers- who were getting ready to play in the next game- were standing.
The two-run blast extended the lead to five, but Hamilton would widen the margin further in the fifth
Hamilton cranked the ball to left once more. This hit did not clear the fence, but nestled in the corner. Joey Everett- who served as the courtesy runner for Keegan Bluhm after Bluhm reached on an error- raced around to add another run.
Uhlman drove in Hamilton a batter later on a single that was also hit to left, then scored on a single by Trevor Currie.
Cade Van De Weg drew a walk prior to that and scored on an error, but Adams Central got aggressive in attempting to bring a halt to the game earlier than expected. With the ten-run rule in play at that juncture, Currie tried to score, but was thrown out at home on what was a close call.
Had Currie managed to score, the game would have been over then, but since he was out, the South Adams season continued.
While it still appeared as though the Jets had the game in hand, they nearly wound up regretting not closing the game in the fifth.
With a runner on base, Brady Beall took the first pitch of his at-bat and lifted it over the wall in left and again forced the waiting Bluffton Tigers to be on high alert as a home run ball landed in their vicinity. That reduced the Adams Central advantage to seven, and South Adams would creep closer in the seventh and set up a tense ending.
Owen Wanner singled, Caleb Hirschfeld walked and both advanced another base on a passed ball. Wanner scored on a sacrifice fly by Luke Bauman to make it a 10-4 game.
Corey Lenington drew a walk which prompted a pitching change from Black to Uhlman, but even with the personnel change, the Starfires were surging and would cut the lead down even further.
Matt Steiner slapped a line drive to right field that brought in Hirschfeld and moved Lenington to third while Steiner stopped at second.
After Uhlman struck out Beall, Hunter Miracle batted with two outs. Down to the last strike, Miracle hit a flare into shallow right field that dropped down for a single, scoring both Lenington and Steiner and pulling South Adams within three.
The Starfires would load the bases after a walk drawn by Kongar, but the game ended on a play that was mixed with defensive genius and some controversy.
Kyle Minger hit a ground ball up the middle that appeared as though it could get into center field. But Adams Central Shortstop Dakota Perry laid out to his left to stop the ball, before flipping it to second. Running full-speed, Kongar slid and made it a tight play.
The umpire that made the call was coincidentally stationed just a few feet in front of second base, a good position to make a massive call.
The call? Out, ending the game.
Those donning the black and yellow of South Adams voiced their disapproval, but the contest came to a close with Adams Central winning a sectional semifinal that did not look as though it would be a close game, but ultimately was.
The Jets advanced to the sectional title game on Monday where a difficult test against Bishop Luers awaited them.
Though Adams Central would keep themselves in the contest defensively, offense proved difficult to come by against a Bishop Luers squad who played one less sectional game than the Jets and took apart Bluffton on Saturday.
Bishop Luers (22-8, 9-5 Summit, 2-0 IHSAA) struck first in the second when Milo Diehm drew a walk that forced in Brayden McInturf.
Van De Weg started on the mound for Adams Central and did well to keep his team in the game. Adams Central would benefit from him keeping the Knights in check by tying the game in the bottom of the fourth.
An error allowed Bluhm to reach safely while Black scored to even the contest at one run apiece.
But the Knights broke the Adams Central resistance at the biggest point in the game.
Batting in the top half of the final inning of regulation, Mason West singled on a liner to center. His courtesy runner, Anthony Antonuccio, took second on a walk drawn by Diehm.
With one out and two runners on, Jaden Mays laid down a bunt, but an error allowed both runners to progress beyond the base the Knights planned for them to get to on the play.. Antonuccio rounded third and crossed home plate. Diehm stopped at third.
Diehm would not have to wait long for his chance to come in, doing so on a passed ball a batter later.
The Knights went up three when Mays stole third, then scored on a sacrifice fly.
Trailing 4-1 with three outs to work, the Jets needed an inspired seventh, but were unable to draw closer, going down in order to end the game.
Bishop Luers will face the Westview Warriors on Saturday in regional play.
Adams Central had been on a five-game winning streak prior to Monday’s defeat. Their 3-3 regular season record in the Allen County Athletic Conference earned them fourth in the final league standings.