Seneca —
Not often does one play in the third inning change the whole complexion of a game.
During Crawford County’s Section 1 Senior League baseball game on Wednesday, an umpire’s altered ruling erased a double play and later led to DuBois scoring four times in the third inning of DuBois’ 9-7 victory at Cranberry High School.
Crawford County was ahead 4-0 in the bottom of the third inning when DuBois loaded the bases with no one out. Up came DuBois’ Phil Myers, who looped a ball in front of Crawford shortstop Mitchell Wood. The play would have been routine if not for the home plate umpire voicing the infield fly rule.
The umpire’s ruling of the infield fly rule (initially) erased Myers. And Wood fired the ball to catcher Tyler Walters, who tagged out Ayden Hanes as he was barreling home to complete the supposed double play.
However, after much deliberation, the umpires changed the call, saying that the looper should not be ruled an infield fly. Instead, Crawford County recorded just the out at home and the bases were still loaded with one out.
DuBois responded by scoring four runs and tying the game at 4. To Crawford County manager Scott Walters, the changed ruling was a huge momentum shift in DuBois’ favor.
“You switch the momentum that quick, and it did,” coach Walters said. “(We) saw it spiral. It is what it is. ... When something like that turns the game, it’s tough on them (the players). They’re teenagers.”
The ball in question was in the air for just a few seconds before it was fielded on a hop by Wood.
“I think they made the right call,” DuBois manager Rich Petrillo said. “An infield fly has to be one that you have to get under. The other two umps overruled the home plate umpire and I think they made the right call.”
Crawford County still had four more innings to take the lead back. And it did by scoring three times in the sixth inning to jump ahead 7-4.
That’s when DuBois put together a five-run sixth inning that did in Crawford County. Wood, who went to the mound in relief of Matt Thompson, couldn’t retire any of the four batters he faced. A single, a walk, an error and a run-scoring walk led to his exit.
“Mitchell’s a very solid pitcher,” coach Walters said. “He just couldn’t find the strike zone.”
Cole Baker then replaced Wood on the bump. The first batter he faced, DuBois No. 9 hitter Ryan Anderson, hit an RBI single. Then leadoff hitter Garrett Miles tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right field.
Baker retired Myers for the second out of the inning, but Justin Sleigh’s two-run single pushed DuBois ahead for good at 9-7.
Crawford County jumped ahead 4-0 behind six second-inning hits. Tyler Walters, who went 3-for-4, led off with a single and scored on Jesse Staudt’s double. Thompson then singled before a groundout by Scott Sada plated Staudt.
After Drew Durasa recorded a single of his own, Joel Mowris made it 4-0 Crawford County with a two-run single.
In the sixth inning, back-to-back walks by Durasa and Baker were followed by a pair of outs. But Wood wouldn’t strand the two base runners. He ripped a two-run triple and completed the inside-the-park play by scoring from third on an error.
DuBois, however, erased 4-0 and 7-4 deficits for a win that Petrillo admitted was a bit unexpected.
“I’m very relieved,” Petrillo said. “I wasn’t expecting what happened today. ... I wasn’t expecting it to be this close and (for) us (to) fall behind like we did. I figured we could stay with them. When they jumped out to the big lead like that, it was like, ‘Uh oh.’”
DuBois advances to the winners’ bracket final to face Harborcreek today at 7:30 p.m. Harborcreek beat Cranberry 4-0 on Wednesday.
Crawford County left seven runners on base, including four in scoring position. The team loaded the bases with no outs in the third inning but couldn’t score after a pop out and two strikeouts.
“We can’t leave that many runners on base,” coach Walters said. “That came should have been almost a 10-run game if we score everybody that was on base.”
Crawford County will have to win four games in three days in order to advance to the state tournament, which begins Wednesday in Emporium. Its next game is today at 5 p.m. against Cranberry.
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DuBois rallies to defeat Crawford County
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