Thu Sep 02 2010
BY MIKE VERNOT
Despite threatening skies all around, the 2009 Defiance County sectional Acme tournament rolled on with a pair of games at Booster Field in Defiance on Tuesday night. There seemed to be a common theme in both contests with runs coming in bunches when Fairview defeated Hicksville 16-1 in the opener before Defiance handed Ayersville a 13-0 defeat in the nightcap.
Quinton Yoder of Fairview pitched a three-hitter and allowed only one run while striking out eight and walking two batters.
"Quinton did very well," explained Fairview coach Tyler Miller. 'He came out a little shaky but I was proud of him because he recomposed himself and buckled down and did what he had to do."
Aside from Yoder, the story of the game could be a huge fourth inning for Fairview when they pushed across 10 runs that featured 12 batters coming to the plate. Hicksville mentor Greg Norton believes that inning was a characteristic of a young team.
"When momentum starts going downhill, especially for younger kids," he explained. "It is tough to recover because they aren't sure how to deal with that and that has been our story all year."
Brock Mosier led the Fairview offense with a single and a home run while Quinton Yoder and Luke Kuhn tallied two singles each.
Hicksville will now face Ayersville tonight while Fairview will play the winner of Defiance and Tinora on Thursday, a fact that worries Miller.
"I think we are finally coming together as a team and I have stressed all year its the little things that win games," he explained. "Still, I am anxious about the next matchup because I think we will see some better pitching in whoever we face. We will just do what got us here and that is stay disciplined."
Defiance also relied on a big inning in the second game by driving in five runs in the fourth and plating eight more in the fifth after sending 13 batters to the plate.
"The first couple innings we mentally weren't there," explained Defiance coach Mark Elliott. "We swung at bad pitches and we just were not thinking. In the fourth, I'm not sure what sparked it, but we started playing and thinking at the same time."
The first couple innings did give the illusion of a pitchers matchup with Kurt Belau of Defiance and Dillon Flint of Ayersville trading strikeouts. Then while Belau seemed to get stronger and more comfortable, Flint seemed to get in more jams which led to the scoring in the fourth and fifth innings.
"Kurt had great command tonight," explained Elliott. "He doesn't overpower people so he has to have that, but he also had great defense behind him."
Ayersville coach Chad Donsbach agreed that Belau's performance was good, but also felt like the team hurt itself by allowing too many walks.
"Kurt was mixing his pitches well and we were off balance," said the Ayersville skipper. "But we didn't help ourselves when we walked too many guys and made some bad fielding decisions. There is a difference between our team and Defiance in that they are a confident team that has had success this summer and we have struggled. We seem to sit back and wait for the bad thing to happen while they look for opportunity which is a trait of a good team."
Belau ended up allowing only two his while striking out 10 batters. Alex Nofziger led Defiance by going 3-4 with two singles and a double while tallying three RBI while Jake Moser added three singles and Erin Helling smacked two doubles.
"Eric Stapleton is going to go tomorrow, but other than that, we are just looking for whomever is willing to step up," explained Elliott in reference to their next matchup with Tinora. "This is the time of year where we need people to show what they are about. So the roster is wide open to whoever wants to play the most."
Linescores
Fairview 022 102 - 16 12 0
Hicksville 100 000 - 1 3 2
Records: Fairview 14-5, Hicksville 4-10.
Winning pitcher: Quinton Yoder (5 innings, 1 run, 3 hits, 8 strikeouts, 2 walks).
Losing pitcher: Justin Miller. Others: Cody Bibberstat, Gunner Shock.
Leading hitters: (Fairview, 12 hits) - Quinton Yoder 2 singles; Brock Mosier single, home run; Luke Kuhn 2 singles. (Hicksville, 3 hits) - Dustin Yoder double.
Defiance 000 58 - 13 12 1
Ayersville 000 00 - 0 2 2
Records: Defiance 20-5, Ayersville 2-8.
Winning pitcher: Kurt Belau (5 innings, 0 runs, 2 hits, 10 strikeouts, 2 walks).
Losing pitcher: Dillon Flint. Other: Tyler Waldron.
Leading hitters: (Defiance, 12 hits) - Erin Helling 2 doubles; Alex Nofziger 2 singles, double; Dace Kime double; Jake Moser 3 singles. (Ayersville, 2 hits) - Garrett Brock double.
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