Darby, Grove City survive waits to set up regional
The Hilliard Darby baseball team is playing loose, and it’s leading to big things, namely a Division I district title with a 6-1 win over Olentangy Liberty in a game that began Thursday and concluded Saturday.
The 11th-seeded Panthers (17-12) captured their sixth district title. They will play Grove City in a regional semifinal at 2 p.m. Thursday at Dublin Coffman
“(Liberty is a) really, really good team,” Darby coach Mike Weer said. “It’s hard with the adrenaline from a game and then you stop and it’s two days (later). You never know what’s going to happen.”
Brody Van Dyke scored two runs in the first two innings, including one on Casey Maruniak’s two-out double to give the Panthers a 4-0 lead in the second just before play was halted May 26 because of rain.
The constant for the Panthers was Kyle Kessel, who allowed an unearned run on one hit and three walks with two strikeouts over five innings, pitching both days.
“Last year, he gained about 10 miles per hour on his fastball,” Weer said. “But he’s never really been in these situations. He played JV for us last year. He kind struggled a little bit with his own confidence, being in these situations. I couldn’t be more proud of the way he’s worked through it.”
Kessel gave up a hit to David Dielman with two outs in the third and retired seven of the final eight batters he faced. —Michael Rich
Grove City 2, Lancaster 0
Fourth-seeded Grove City and thirdseeded Golden Gales played another classic Division I district final.
A year ago, Lancaster came away with a 2-1, 11-inning win to capture its third consecutive district championship.
The 2022 version had all the makings of another nail-biter, only this one took two extra days. After playing 6 1/3 scoreless innings Thursday at Olentangy Orange before rain halted the game, it was resumed Saturday at Upper Arlington.
Grove City (22-5) scored twice in the top of the eighth and left two Lancaster (21-6) runners stranded in the bottom half to secure its first district title since 2014.
“We knew what we were getting ourselves into if we had to play Lancaster again,” Grove City coach Ryan Alexander said. “I’ve watched coach (Corey) Conn take that program from a struggling team to a complete powerhouse in central Ohio, so I know how hard he has worked to build that, and we have the utmost respect for that program."
The Greyhounds started the eighth with a double from Grady Speegle. Braylon Boggs came in to pinch run for Speegle, and with two outs, Trent Ruffing laid down a bunt and beat the throw to first, which allowed Boggs to score.
After Keegan Holmstrom walked, Jackson Ware hit a bloop single to left field and Ruffing beat Riley Poston’s throw home on a bang-bang play for a 2-0 lead.
—Tom Wilson, Lancaster Eagle Gazette
Buckeye Valley 5, Johnstown-monroe 4 (10 innings)
Buckeye Valley managed just four baserunners through the first six innings before three consecutive hits, including an RBI hit for Zach Church, and a throwing error on a bunt to start the bottom of the seventh allowed the Barons to tie the game.
The Johnnies scored in the top of the 10th when junior Chase Boroff singled and eventually reached home on an error. The Barons sandwiched two singles around a throwing error to load the bases before earning their second consecutive walk-off win on a Church walk to score Tanner Domyanich and a wild pitch to score Mason Kurtz.
—Kurt Snyder, Newark Advocate