Rattlers go extra innings to tie 28-6A race
Reagan and Johnson went nine innings over 3½ hours Tuesday night before the Rattlers finally walked it off.
Caden Roy’s two-out, basesloaded deep fly to center was misplayed, sending Luke Sasser home with the winning run in Reagan’s 6-5 victory at North East Sports Park to tie the District 28-6A race.
The ball carried thanks to a brisk wind, which made it tricky for center fielder Ty Hawkins.
When the ball left his bat, Roy was in prayer mode.
“I’m rounding first and I’m thinking ‘Get over his head. Make a mistake. Come on. Do something here,’ and it ended up happening,” Roy said.
Sasser reached on a one-out single and got to third on Brennan Greer’s single and an intentional walk to Aidan Coleman. That set it up for Roy.
“I was expected to put the ball in play and do my job,” Roy said. “I just put it in play, and good things happened.”
Reagan and Johnson are now tied for first in the district standings at 12-1 with three games left in the regular season.
“This has been a thing for a while now with both teams being really good,” said Coleman,
Reagan’s ace pitcher. “Some of us know each other, so that kind of puts more of a competitive aspect on things. But yeah, we’re always ready to go when we play them, and they’re always ready to go when they play us.”
Johnson defeated Reagan 2-1
in 13 innings on March 16 in their previous meeting.
There was a slow build toward Tuesday’s dramatics after Johnson ripped off four runs in the first inning while making Coleman throw 35 pitches.
Catcher Masa Chilcutt doubled
in two runs for a 2-0 lead. The Jaguars added scores on a wild pitch that scored courtesy runner Kody Copeland from third and a throwing error that brought in Ethan Notgrass, another courtesy runner.
“Obviously, it’s not the way you’d like to start any game, but sometimes you’ve got to work with what you have that day,” said Coleman, who had two strikeouts, allowed seven hits and threw 107 pitches in six innings. “You have to try to overcome it and keep moving forward.”
His teammates rescued him as Reagan tied it up with four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Andrew Ermis and Greer opened with back-to-back doubles that produced a run. Rylan Rangel later sent a two-out double to the left-center gap that scored two more, followed by Caleb Cappuccio’s RBI single that tied it.
The Jaguars regained the lead in the top of the fifth when Hawkins bounced a two-out single between third and shortstop that scored Copeland.
The Rattlers tied it again in the sixth when Coleman cracked a leadoff solo shot to left field that made it 5-5.
“That felt awesome,” Coleman said. “I didn’t have my best stuff on the mound tonight. It made me feel better that I helped the guys get back into it. Everyone did their job, and everyone did an awesome job. It was such a team effort tonight. It was a great win.”