Fountain Hills tops Empire
3rd seed wins state title with run with 2 outs in the 7th inning
No. 3 Fountain Hills scored with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat Empire 5-4 to win the Division III state title at Surprise Stadium on Saturday night.
"I knew these kids would battle and they have played (tough) all season," Fountain Hills coach Mike Briguglio said. "I can't get over how great this feeling is."
Fountain Hills scored with two outs in the bottom of the seventh on a play that defined this team. With runners on first and second, Ethan Fett hit a groundball deep in the hole at shortstop. Empire’s Ryan Stewart dove and grabbed the ball, but Paul Bryniarski ran through the stop sign given by the third-base coach and slid home with the winning run.
"I knew Ethan would come through with a hit and I wasn't stopping at third," Bryniarski said. "Nothing was stopping me from crossing the plate."
Empire struck first, loading the bases with one out in the first, when Andres Hackman drilled a ball down the left-field line for a threerun double.
Empire added another run in the third, when Jared Kromminga singled to center scoring Donny Sands, who had singled earlier.
After the third, Fountain Hills starting pitcher Andrew Bryniarski settled down and retired 10 in a row allowing his team to chip away at the Empire lead.
Fountain Hills got within one in the bottom of the third when Devin Foyle crushed triple off the right center-field wall scoring Cory Kukkola. Foyle scored on a fly-out by Andrew Bryniarski.
Cameron Russo then tripled off the right center-field wall and scored on a bloop single by Paul Bryniaeski, cutting the lead to 4-3.
Fountain Hills tied the game in the fifth when Russo tripled to right-field and scored on a wild pitch.