The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Lions’ late rally downs archrival Cougars
With two outs in the top of the seventh as it trailed by three runs, NDCL knew it was running out of time at Lake Catholic on May 10.
Sam Slodic stepped to the plate to try and extend the game and give the Lions another chance.
His two-run single to center brought the game back to a one-run deficit, and Gianni Spetic hit a single in the next at-bat that tied the game. Tyler Newton continued the streak of hot batters for NDCL, as a deep shot to left allowed for two more runners to cross and NDCL went on to win, 11-9.
The Lions are now 8-7 on the season, while Lake Catholic fell to 10-7.
It wasn’t a good start defensively for the Lions as overthrows and just-underthe-mitt ground balls rolled past their defense and it was a quick 4-0 lead for Lake Catholic. But NDCL put together a six-run fourth with five batters stringing together hits to take a 6-4 lead.
NDCL coach Jim Clark knew his team wouldn’t let the early hole get to them, rather fuel the team to do better and make the routine plays they’re used to.
“We never quit and had to find a way to string some good at-bats together,” Clark said. “We had a lot of guys at the end who had some good at-bats, and that enabled us to take the lead. I told the team that we didn’t play well in a lot of areas, there were some plays that we didn’t make defensively and walked too many batters. The bottom line is that our guys didn’t quit, and I’m proud of what they did.”
The NDCL lead was shortlived however, as Lake Catholic
THE SCORE NDCL 11, LAKE CATHOLIC 9
composed a five-run bottom of the fifth to retake the lead, 9-6, highlighted by a Roman Gerbic two-run double. Just as the Lions had clawed their way back into it, the rug had been pulled out from under them.
After a scoreless sixth, Slodic made his way to the batter’s box. Now in his fifth trip to the plate for the contest, he was still searching for his first hit of the game. He knew that with runners in scoring position, any hit into the outfield would see them waved home.
“Going up to the plate, I had been able to get a read on the umpire’s zone,” Slodic said. “It was a matter of finding the first pitch that I liked, getting a good swing on it and only focusing on that.”
While Slodic had grown used to the strike zone, Newton had only come in to pinch-hit at start of the sixth inning. He had seen the two batters before him start the rally and knew he had to finish it and not send the game to the bottom of the inning in a tie to give the Cougars a chance.
“I was just waiting to see a fastball, and when I finally saw one I took advantage of it,” Newton said. “I didn’t think that I hit it that far but it kept carrying, and I was able to get the lead.”