Palmer pitches Smithfield-Fairchance past Colonial 3
Jonathan Guth | Herald-Standard
Starting and winning pitcher Willie Palmer throws for Smithfield-Fairchance during Monday’s Fayette County American Legion Baseball League playoff game against Colonial 3 at Smithfield Ball Field.
Jonathan Guth | Herald-Standard
Smithfield-Fairchance’s Nate Bricker dives safely back to first base as Colonial 3’s Alec McLay fields the ball on a pick-off attempt during Monday’s Fayette County American Legion Baseball League playoff game at Smithfield Ball Field.
Colonial 3's Brandon Swaney delivers a pitch during Monday's Fayette County American Legion Baseball League playoff game against Smithfield-Fairchance at Smithfield Ball Field.
Smithfield-Fairchance coach Mike Simon congratulates Nate Bricker after he reaches on a single in Monday's Fayette County American Legion Baseball League playoff game against Colonial 3 at Smithfield Ball Field.
Colonial 3's Brandon Bell leads off first base during Monday's Fayette County American Legion Baseball League playoff game against Smithfield-Fairchance at Smithfield Ball Field.
Smithfield-Fairchance first baseman Austin Bergman waits for the throw from pitcher Willie Palmer during the second inning of Monday's Fayette County American Legion Baseball League playoff game against Colonial 3 at Smithfield Ball Field.
Smithfield-Fairchance's Austin Bergman makes the catch at first base for the out as Colonial 3's Silvio Urani sprints down the line during Monday's Fayette County American Legion Baseball League playoff game at Smithfield Ball Field.
SMITHFIELD — Willie Palmer pitched six innings of three-hit ball to lead Smithfield-Fairchance to a 4-0 victory over Colonial 3 on Monday in Fayette County American Legion Baseball League playoff action at Smithfield Ball Field.
Palmer’s gem sets up a matchup tonight against Uniontown (16-1) at Hutchinson Field in the winner’s bracket of the league tournament. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.
“We are playing on throwing Austin Bergman tomorrow,” Smithfield-Fairchance coach Mike Simon said. “We lost, 1-0, and 2-0, against them (Uniontown) this year, and we know it is going to be another tough game. We have to give our pitcher some run support. We also need to drive the runs in when we get guys on base.”
Colonial 3 (8-9) looks to rebound tonight at Rowes Run when it hosts Carmichaels (2-14) at 6 p.m. in the loser’s bracket.
“We are glad that we get to play another game, and it will be at home,” Colonial 3 coach Don Bell said. “We love it out there and we hope that we can come back and make a run here. It’s tough to come out of the loser’s bracket, but we did it last year, so we hope to do it again.”
Palmer had five strikeouts, one walk and threw 105 pitches. He was pulled following the sixth due to pitch-count restrictions.
“I felt good out there today,” Palmer said. “I was working the strike zone with my fastball and I didn’t even know I was at 105 pitches. My defense behind me played great and we put up some runs.”
Nate Bricker took over for Palmer in the seventh and pitched a 1-2-3 inning with one strikeout.
“We decided on Friday we were going to go with Willie (Palmer) when we saw the matchup was going to be against Colonial,” Simon said. “Willie pitched well, and then Nate (Bricker) came in and shut things down in the seventh. It was important for us to keep Nate under 30 pitches and throw one inning.”
Smithfield-Fairchance (9-7) scored the only run Palmer would need in the first when Bricker singled to right field, moved to second on a wild pitch, and with two outs, scored on Palmer’s single to right field for a 1-0 lead.
Bricker added singles in the fourth and sixth innings.
“I thought we hit the ball well tonight and we also made sure to get our leadoff guys on base,” Simon said. “I think that really helped us out a lot. We caught a couple of breaks, but that is because we put the bat on the ball.
“We had some normal starters out, but we had other guys step up. I thought Josh Szerensci stepped up real nice today. He did a great job out there and has come a long way.”
Smithfield-Fairchance scored two runs in the third on two hits for a 3-0 advantage.
Jace Cappellini walked and stole second with one out. Palmer reached on an error and Cappellini scored on Mike Coll’s single up the middle. Palmer scored on Matt Mills’ base hit. Both runs were unearned.
“In close games, the small things bite you,” Bell said. “I told them before the game, you have to do everything well in playoff time, you can’t make extra outs on the bases, and you can’t kick the ball around.”
Smithfield-Fairchance added an insurance run in the sixth inning when pinch-hitter Kenny Lewis singled, Bricker had a base hit up the middle, Cappellini singled up the middle and Lewis scored when Chandler Goodwin reached on a fielder’s choice.
“That was a big insurance run,” Simon said. “Kenny Lewis had a great at-bat. We wanted to get him an at-bat, and he came through for us.”
Brandon Swaney started for Colonial 3 and took the loss, but pitched strong. He allowed four runs, but only one was earned, on eight hits in 5.1 innings. The Uniontown graduate had three strikeouts and walked two in throwing 103 pitches.
“Brandon (Swaney) pitched well for us today,” Bell said. “You have to give credit to their pitcher (Palmer) as well, but we just didn’t hit well today.”
“I really thought Brandon (Swaney) pitched well today, too,” Simon said. “These kids are familiar with each other from the high school season.”
Preston Frost relieved Swaney in the sixth and recorded the last two outs.
Colonial 3 had a runner in scoring position in the second when Brandon Bell and Alec McLay hit back-to-back singles with two outs, but Palmer induced a groundout to himself to get out of the jam.
Owen Martin led off the third with a hit, but Palmer was able to work out of the inning. The visitors had runners on second and third with one out in the third after Bell reached on an error and Silvio Urani was hit by pitch, but Palmer worked out of trouble by forcing a groudout and pop up to himself for the second and third outs.
“We just couldn’t get any clutch hits,” Don Bell said. “DJ Zimcosky put a nice bat on the ball in the sixth, but he was just a little bit out in front of it.”