By Dave Bryne
New Era Correspondent
Occasionally, preconceived notions about the outcome of a baseball
game can be dead wrong.
But you didn't have to be Nostradamus to predict how Friday's
New Era Tournament Midget quarterfinal games would play out.
Hempfield Black and Manheim Township Black in the second game?
Expect a tightly played, squirm-in-your-seat battle.
The result? Township, 1-0, in eight heart-stopping innings. A
victory that derailed Hempfield's quest for an unprecedented
fourth straight NET Midget title.
In the first game, in one dugout was Penn Manor's Comets Blue,
a group that won NET titles at the Midget-Midget and Junior-Midget
levels under the flag of Safe Harbor.
Across the way was Terre Hill, invited to the dance when Cocalico,
the eighth seed overall, backed out with personnel issues.
It was, as expected, Christians vs. lions time, and the lions
were hungry. Comets 25, Terre Hill 1.
Once the grounds crew had tidied the coliseum, er, Ephrata's
War Memorial Field, the Montagues and Capulets of Lancaster County
sport put on a show.
Hempfield starter Ryan Walters pitched four scoreless innings,
allowing Township (14-6) two hits while walking four.
He escaped a second-and-third, one-out jam in the fourth with
a strikeout and a groundout.
Geoff Dornes came on in the fifth and strung zeroes for three
more innings, dodging a bases-loaded, one-out trial in the sixth
inning with back-to-back strikeouts.
If possible, Township's Grant Wiest was even better. Through
six innings he held Hempfield (11-5-1) to two hits, skipping
out of a first-and-third, no-out situation in the third with
a pair of fly balls and a forceout.
"This is the hardest he's thrown all year. He was mixing everything
up," said his catcher, Pete Fisher. "Everything he wanted to
throw was right in there, and he put his fastball right on the
black."
It looked like Wiest might've hit the wall in the seventh inning.
After running only three three-ball counts through six innings,
he had four in a row, staggering a pair of walks around a strikeout.
What's more, he had drifted up in the zone.
"I was losing my release point," Wiest shared. "I was trying
to overdo it 'cause I really wanted the win."
His 2-1 pitch to Josh Houseal was wild, moving Shane Dougherty
and Ryan Enoch to third and second respectively, and ball three
was high.
But he induced Houseal to foul out to first on the next offering,
and it was off to extra innings.
Leading off the Township eighth, Fisher drove a ball to right
that appeared to be a sure single. Tyler Swezey dove to catch
the ball, missed, and it was off to the races.
"I saw (Swezey) lay out, noticed the ball got past him and I
thought there's no way I'm not getting a triple on this," Fisher
declared.
Fisher pulled into third as the throw from right came up the
line. Dornes got Nick Downey on strikes, then went to work on
Kyle Kauffman.
Kauffman fell behind 0-2 but got it back to 2-2 as Dornes couldn't
locate his curveball. Sitting fastball, Kauffman then singled
to left to score Fisher.
"I knew I was going to hit him, because I just had it set in
my mind he wasn't going to strike me out," Kauffman said.
After the inning ended, Wiest came out to protect the narrowest
of advantages.
And was quickly pushed to the edge by his defense.
Going solely with curveballs to Charlie Parker, Wiest got him
to half-swing a bouncer to third. Peter Savage couldn't field
the between hop.
After getting Keith Unton on a foul tip strikeout, Wiest fed
Dornes nothing but deuces.
Dornes poked a soft liner to short. Hershey got handcuffed, just
before the ball dropped to the ground. Safe all around.
Hershey redeemed himself on Matt Metcalf's fielder's choice to
short, flipping to Bernie Zaritzky for the second out.
Then Wiest reached for his last fastballs, getting Robbie Devereaux
on a soft fly to left to end the game.
"That's classic Township-Hempfield," noted Hosler, a veteran
of many of those scrums as a player. "I'm just happy we came
out on top."
Comet Blue (16-5-1) sent 17 men to the plate in the first inning,
bolting to a 12-0 lead.
While Terre Hill (8-4-1) committed only one physical error in
the inning, it gave the Comets seven outs.
Manor didn't need the help. The Comets scored seven more runs
in the second inning and closed with six in the third.
Andy Drexel knocked in seven runs for the Comets and Curran Blevins
four. Three others hitters knocked in two apiece.
Drexel, Blevins, Mike Dommel and Jordan Graham scored four runs
apiece.
The recipient of this batting largess was Keith Rutt, who limited
Terre Hill to a run on two hits in four innings.
Kylan Hoover drove in that run for Terre Hill, doubling to the
fence in left to score Jordan Martin.
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(Click on photo to enlarge or see other photos)
Exhausting game for
Township's ace hurler
By Jason Guarente
New Era Sports Writer
Even after the ball floated harmlessly into his outfielder's
glove, Grant Wiest still didn't know it was over.
It was only after his teammates cheered and he took a quick glance
at the scoreboard that he realized his masterpiece was complete.
After eight trying innings, the longest outing of his career,
Manheim Township Black's ace was tired and disoriented. In the
heat of the moment, he lost track of how many outs there were.
When Hempfield's Robbie Devereaux lifted a routine fly to left,
it was the final out. Wiest, after a quick delay, could rejoice.
"I'm going to be really tired tomorrow," he said Friday night.
"Not just my arm. That was mentally and physically draining.
I nearly fell over after that last out."
Wiest helped Township edge Hempfield Black 1-0 in the New Era
Tournament Midget quarterfinals at Ephrata's War Memorial Field.
It was a classic pitchers' duel, the kind that gets you biting
your fingernails and watching every moment as if it might decide
the outcome.
Through seven innings, the teams had combined for five hits.
Despite several scoring chances created by walks, nobody was
able to push a run across.
Every moment was pressure-packed. Every pitch mattered.
Does Wiest like these kinds of games?
"Not really," he said at first.
Then, as he applied ice to his weary right shoulder, he reconsidered.
"Yeah, if we win," he said.
The final three outs were the toughest. Township broke a scoreless
tie with a run in the top of the eighth. Knowing how close his
team was to victory, Coach Lyle Hosler stuck with his starter
for one more inning.
"He had a good fastball and it kept getting better as the game
went on," Hosler said.
Wiest was at 108 pitches. Hosler set 130 as the limit.
As Hempfield tried to rally, putting runners on first and third
with two outs, Wiest admitted he was running on fumes.
"The last inning I was really tired," he said. "I couldn't feel
my arm. It didn't hurt, but it just wasn't very strong.
"I was trying to fight as hard as I can. That's all I can do
when I'm tired."
Wiest's breaking ball was gone and he didn't want to risk throwing
a hanger. He mustered up the energy for one last fastball and
Devereaux couldn't get on top of it.
Hosler was impressed with his ace's performance.
"That was his best game of the year by far," Township's coach
said.
As with every pitchers' duel, there are two sides. One ends with
elation, the other dejection. Hempfield used two pitchers to
keep Township quiet. Righty Ryan Walters threw the first four
innings and lefty Geoff Dornes tossed the second four.
It was an effective strategy used by Hempfield.
"Not only are they two top pitchers, but they throw from different
arm angles," Hosler said. "That made it especially difficult."
Wiest was masterful all by himself. He went through the heart
of Hempfield's lineup four times and only surrendered three hits.
The gutty righthander earned this victory. He earned all those
pats on the back. He earned that ice pack on his shoulder.
And, most importantly, he earned some rest.
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