DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
DECATUR – No one ever said it was going to be easy.
The Bellmont Braves certainly did not make it easy on themselves Thursday, but they still find themselves in playing in the sectional championship game on Monday after beating Heritage in a wild, 10-9 game. It’s the second year in a row that the Bellmont side has eliminated Heritage and the game also marked the long, storied career of Heritage coach Dean Lehrman.
Heritage looked to be well on their way to revenge against the Braves, knocking Beau Baker out of the game after just two innings. Five of the first six batters for the Patriots reached with a hit, although they were hampered in their efforts for an even bigger inning by a great throw by Matt Bleeke, who caught Kingston Galentine trying to turn a double into a triple. Galentine had driven in Beau Stoppenhagen, who led off the inning with a triple.
Galentine made up for his mistake by starting a double play in the next inning and he drew a bases-loaded walk from Baker in the second to make it a 4-0 game.
Bellmont, though, had an answer. Beginning with Ben Mills leadoff double in the third, the Braves got an RBI groundout from Dan Selking and a sacrifice fly from Baker to cut the lead in half. Stoppenhagen then walked the next three batters to line up what should probably go down in the books as the biggest play of the game.
Facing a 1-1 count, Jack Schultz hit one all the way to the fence in center, clearing the bases and putting Bellmont up, 5-4. The Braves never gave the lead back the rest of the night.
In the bottom of the third, Bellmont elected to go with Layne LeMaster for the rest of the game. The move paid off and Baker will now be ready to start Monday’s championship game.
LeMaster used a double play to go three up, three down in his first inning of work, then promptly hit one into the pine trees in dead center field (see gallery below), scoring Mills, who reached again with a bloop base hit.
That spelled the end of the night for Stoppenhagen and what had figured to be a pitchers’ duel between the two aces from both squads turned into a bullpen game, with neither starter making it as far as they had hoped.
Corbin Saalfrank entered the game for Heritage and got out of the inning and he and LeMaster both stranded runners until the game got into the sixth inning. The Braves knocked Saalfrank out of the game in the sixth after Kaigan Lee hit one out to Monroe Street with an absolute bomb that seemed to deflate any hope that Heritage might have to come back.
The five-run lead seemed insurmountable considering the Patriots did not get their first hit off LeMaster until the sixth inning.
A two-out rally in the seventh for the Braves gave them an extra insurance run, with Max Mirelez walking Oliver Werling with the bases loaded to make the score 10-4.
Kingston Galentine then came into the game and struck out the only batter he faced to send it to the bottom of the seventh.
Having allowed just one hit in four innings of relief, it was a bit of a shock to the crowd to see Beau Stoppenhagen crush a ball over the fence to lead off the bottom of the seventh, but when Galentine singled to right and LeMaster allowed the next two runners to reach to load the bases, it was suddenly a ball game.
Mirelez made up for his bases-loaded walk earlier with a sac fly and Eli Rauner and Brady Boyle each followed with doubles, putting the tying run on second base.
LeMaster never wavered, though, and calmly struck out Saalfrank on just three pitches. That set up an opportunity to finish the game before Stoppenhagen, who had already homered and tripled in the game, could come to the plate.
Dan Selking handled a ground ball hit hard to him for the final out and the Braves advanced with a nerve-wracking finish.
Mills and LeMaster, batting No. 9 and No. 1, respectively were the key cogs in the Bellmont offense, with each picking up three hits. They scored five of the team’s ten runs.
LeMaster ultimately gave up six hits in his five innings of work. He was charged with five runs while striking out four for the victory.
For the Patriots, every batter in the starting lineup had at least one hit, but it simply was not enough in the end.
There was just one error in the game and all 19 runs scored were charged as earned. One of the most significant statistics was the number of outs made on the basepaths by the Patriots. Bellmont’s two pitchers allowed 13 hits, walked six and hit a pair of batters, but the Patriots did not have the runs to show for it.
About the Author
