The little ball wins the game.
That’s exactly what happened Sunday afternoon as the Williamsport Crosscutters defeated the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, 3-2, at Bowman Field.
Relief pitcher AJ Riddle came on for Mahoning Valley in the bottom of the ninth with the game tied 2-2, but quickly found himself in trouble after walking Ali LaPurido with the count full. A sacrifice bunt by Mitch McCabe advanced LaPurido to second base and scored the winning run.
After McGuire Holbrook walked, Jacob Harper threw the ball back to pitcher Riddle for a potential double play that would have led to sudden death, but Riddle misplayed the throw and the ball flew into the dangerous outfield, where LaPriedo walked the red carpet and stormed home to give Williamsport the win.
The Scrappers only homered twice, tying that record in the first inning when they got two one-out soft singles from Draylin Holmes and Jake Allgaier to home base.
With runners in scoring position, Drew Holderback broke the tie early with a fly single to right field, scoring Holmes. Mahoning then scored Allgaier on the next batter, a grounder by Matt Rivera, to extend the lead to two runs.
It was a frustrating inning for Williamsport starting pitcher Brett Francisco, who gave up just three hits and two runs despite only allowing soft contact in the first inning. Francisco followed up his awful first inning with just one runner over the next three innings before being replaced. The wing pitcher finished with two hits and two runs allowed over four innings, striking out three.
“We limited him today because we wanted to prepare him (for the championship).” Hannigan admitted. “I had him throw 50 pitches. His style of pitching is that he doesn’t use a cutter until the second inning, but if he was going to play in the championship game, I wanted to see what it would be like to throw the cutter early. It’s not his normal style of pitching… so I told him, ‘Go back to your fastball and curveball and throw it in the lineup again.’ It all worked out well.”
An ominous murmur began to ring around the ballpark after the fifth inning, when it became clear that not only were the Cutters unable to get a hit, they had yet to reach base against Mahoning Valley starting pitcher Breyan Villar.
But as in the case of Maguire Holbrook, a swing of the bat can dramatically change things.
The designated hitter came to bat as the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the sixth inning and erased his embarrassment with a fly ball over the left-field fence, Holbrook’s fifth of the season and a solo shot that cut Mahoning’s lead in half.
The home run energized the Cutters, who then got two singles by Mikey Florides and Levi Perel and a hit by pitch by Corey Taylor to load the bases with two outs.
But Villar, who hadn’t allowed a run until the sixth inning, got out of a tight spot by striking out Jacob Cawthon on three pitches to give the Scrappers the lead and silence the crowd.
This was Mahoning’s final appearance as a starter. He pitched six innings, allowing one run, three hits and striking out two, lowering his season ERA from 5.30 to 4.78.
The Cutters’ next chance to tie the game came in the bottom of the eighth, when a one-out single and an error by Mikey Florides put the tying run in scoring position off relief pitcher Ethan Bell.
Mark Shallenberger reached base with two outs and thrilled the 1,700 fans at Bowman Field with a sharp hit to right field, sending Florides home and tying the game at 2-2.
The potential flashpoint for this game came a half-inning later when Brett Thomas allowed a single and a walk.
Parker Kruglewicz came on to the mound to prevent a late run and got an early grounder to put two runs in scoring position, then in a chess move, Hannigan called for an intentional walk on Isaac Williams, allowing him to power home.
It was a neat move, Zach Ketterman hit a soft grounder to first base, Mark Shallenberger caught it and scored to tie the game before the force out, then the fly out allowed Krugliewicz to win the game and tie the game.
“Our pitching and defense have gotten a lot better.” Hannigan added. “The players have gotten a lot better this year, so I’m happy with that.”
Williamsport took the lead from there until Jacob Harper’s ground ball drew a throwing error, allowing Ali LaPurido to score and give Williamsport a dramatic comeback win.
With the win, Billtown improves to 11-27 on the second half of the season, while Williamsport looks to improve their record heading into next week’s Draft League Championship, and tomorrow they will host the State College Spikes in their final regular season series. First pitch at historic Bowman Field is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
“They understand their role.” Hannigan concluded regarding the MLB Draft League Championship taking place on Thursday. “We have a plan. Right now it’s all about preparing for that game for us… I think they’re very comfortable with what’s expected of them.”
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