Connellsville rally comes up short
?CONNELLSVILLE — The Connellsville Falcons overcame a 7-2 deficit to tie Greater Latrobe in the fifth inning. However the Wildcats pushed across the winning run in the top of the seventh to edge the Falcons 8-7 in Section 2-AAAA play Wednesday.
The Wildcats (3-3, 3-6) collected 12 hits with Ryan Bisi leading the offense with three, including a three-run homer. Jason Stewart also had three hits for Latrobe.
The Falcons (3-4, 4-4) pounded out 15 hits. Johnny Leonard had four hits and scored a run, and Shawn Sherwood had a two-run homer for one of his two hits. John Malone and Brandon Show had two hits each with Malone driving in two and Show driving in one.
“We can hit the baseball, but all season long we let other teams score first and we have play catch-up. You can’t win that way”, Falcons coach Joe Bonadio said. “Latrobe was able to get the key hit when they needed it. In the top of the seventh they got a man on they get the key hit and win the game.”
Latrobe jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first when the first two batters walked and Bisi connected on a three-run homer.
Connellsville got two of those runs back in the bottom of the second. Show singled and was forced at second on a ground ball by Matt White, and with one-out, Sherwood drilled his two-run shot.
Latrobe produced four runs in the top of the third. Derrick Zavatsky and Jason Stewart each singled to drive in runs. The Wildcats picked up two more runs on an error at short, giving them a 7-2 lead.
“I told our kids Connellsville is a good team even with our lead. They proved it by coming back to tie the game”, Latrobe’s Matt Basciano said. “My kids were able to pull together and came through at the end it was a total team effort.”
The Falcons got two runs in the bottom half of the inning. Leonard singled and stole second. Brandon Freed followed with a base-hit putting two one. Show singled to drive in Leonard, with Freed moving to third. Freed scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of White, which forced Show at second.
The Falcons tied the game scoring three runs in the bottom of the fifth. With one out the Falcons got three consecutive singles from Tyler Geary, Sherwood and Richard Noel. Geary scored on a balk. Malone delivered a two-run double to tie the game.
In the top of the seventh Bisi started the inning for Latrobe with a single. Max Sciullo sacrificed him to second. Stewart followed with an infield hit leaving runners at first and third. Dom Depalma followed with a two out single to right driving in Bisi.
In the bottom of the seventh Leonard singled with one-out. Winning pitcher Matt Shoemaker retired the next two batters to preserve the win.
“You’ve got to be mentally tough. You’ve got to come here and want to win every day,” Bonadio said.
“If you come out just to play the game it’s not going to work. You’ve got to come out wanting to win the baseball game, and play like you want to win it.”