Spring forward: C-H weathers mistakes, tops Fort Cherry
Mark Marietta
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry’s Mitchell Cook slides through Chartiers-Houston’s Luke Camden and scores a second run for the Rangers in the third inning Monday.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Chartiers-Houston’s Will Bohek is caught at the plate by Fort Cherry catcher Mitchell Cook.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry’s Owen Norman returns safely just ahead of the pickoff throw to Chartiers-Houston first baseman Nico Filosi in the Class 2A section game Monday.
Mark Marietta
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Chartiers-Houston’s Jimmy Sadler avoids the tag from Fort Cherry’s Louis Serafin and slides safely into third base.
Mark Marietta
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Driven in on a base hit by Austin Kuslock, Chartiers-Houston’s Jake Mele (4) and Jimmy Sadler (1) score the sixth and seventh runs for the Bucs on the way to a 9-5 victory over Fort Cherry.
HOUSTON – The weather was beautiful. The game was ugly.
But Chartiers-Houston coach Andy Manion will take it. The Bucs got a much-needed 9-5 win over Fort Cherry Monday afternoon to take over sole possession of second place in Class 2A Section 4.
“I don’t think we played our best game,” Manion said. “I thought, as I told them, good teams win when they’re not playing their best … We gave up five runs, that’s more than I’d like to give up. We had a slow start offensively, but we battled through and persevered. So it’s good for them to build off that.”
On a glorious late-April day that would have been good for jogging, bike-riding or grilling out on the deck – some Chartiers-Houston faithful took advantage by hosting a barbecue in the parking lot – the home team needed a win.
Chartiers-Houston (6-3, 10-3) came into the day having lost its previous two section games – both against conference kingpin Seton LaSalle by a combined score of 22-2 – so the game was imperative to the Bucs from a morale standpoint.
It was also a significant matchup in the standings, with Char-Houston coming into the day 5-3 in section play and the Rangers at 4-2.
Sure, a 12-2 win over Frazier last Thursday was nice for the Bucs, but it was also out-of-section and, therefore, not as significant.
The Bucs got off to a good start, scoring the game’s first run in their first at-bat. Aided by a dropped third strike that allowed Austin Kuslock to reach, Char-Houston made it 1-0 on an RBI groundout by Roman Lombardi that brought home Anthony Romano, who was the courtesy runner for pitcher Matt Rieger. Rieger hit the first of his two doubles in the bottom of the first and ended the day going 2-3 with an RBI.
On the mound, Rieger wasn’t as sharp as he was last Monday against Seton LaSalle when he came within one pitch of a complete-game shutout. Nonetheless, he still powered through five innings to get the win.
He gave up three runs on four hits, walked four, hit another and struck out a batter.
“Good pitchers don’t always have their A-game, and good pitchers can win when they have a B or even a C game,” Manion said. “That’s where Matt was today, somewhere in that B-C range. He still came out against a good team and won.”
“My curveball wasn’t working as much,” Rieger said. “I didn’t have my best stuff, but I still felt real confident in myself.”
The roughest part of Rieger’s day came in the top of the third. Fort Cherry (4-3, 7-4) took the lead on a two-out, two-run bases-loaded single by Rieger’s opposite, Ryan Craig. The Rangers added insurance later in the inning when Jake Tkach scored on a wild pitch.
After that, Chartiers-Houston’s bats woke up.
In the bottom of the third, the Bucs cut the deficit in half when Roman Lombardi scored on a passed ball. The Bucs then tied it and soon after took the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Rieger’s second double scored leadoff man Jimmy Sadler and tied the score at 3-3. With one out and courtesy runner Nathan Miklos on third, Kuslock reached on an error, putting the Bucs in front. That error was one of three made by the Rangers on the afternoon.
“It was very sloppy,” Fort Cherry coach Bob Sawhill said. “We weren’t where we were supposed to be. We weren’t doing the things we were supposed to do.”
Now back in the lead, C-H s busted it open in the fifth. With Craig gone, Ryan Parise scored on a wild pitch by reliever Owen Norman. Two batters later, the Bucs made it 7-3 on a two-run single by Kuslock.
Fort Cherry wouldn’t go quietly, however. Ryan Opfer came on in relief in the sixth and ran into some trouble. He gave up a run to make it 7-4 and loaded the bases with two outs and the Rangers’ No. 3 hitter, Mitchell Cook at the plate. Opfer struck out Cook looking to get out of the inning, and the Bucs got two more runs in the bottom half on a sac fly by Tim Urban and a single by Nico Filosi.
For Manion, Opfer’s strikeout of Cook was big both at the moment and potentially for the future as well.
“We have pitching planned out for the week, and if you have to use somebody today that you planned on using tomorrow, that has implications further on down the line,” he said. “So it was huge for us to be able to get out of that and be able to ride Opfer for the rest of the game.”
For Sawhill, the key to bouncing back is basic.
“A good night’s sleep,” he said. “We play them tomorrow.”
Indeed, they do. Same time, different place. The Bucs and Rangers meet at Fort Cherry today. For Manion, his team will need to be sharper.
“We know we’re going to get their best stuff, so we have to come up with a better effort than we showed today,” he said. “If we do that and eliminate the mistakes, then I think we have a good chance.”