Late-Game Heroics Sends Hawks Past Valmeyer into Sectional Finals
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GREENVILLE - Down to their last three outs, the Carrollton Hawks were staring elimination in the eyes to the Valmeyer Pirates for the third consecutive season.
A year ago at this time, Hunter Flowers was out of baseball nursing a shoulder injury, but this year he was up to bat with his team needing him to come up big. With runners at second and third base with one out and trailing 8-7, this was the Hawks golden opportunity if there was ever one too.
He answered the call.
On a 1-1 pitch from Phillip Reinhardt, Flowers rammed a fastball into left-center field scoring Nathan Walker and Gabe Jones to give the Hawks a stunning 9-8 lead. The Hawks would go on to hold off the Pirates in the final inning for a dramatic come-from-behind victory in the Class 1A Greenville Sectional Semifinals on a Wednesday afternoon.
"I was thinking fastball all the way. I was saying he had to bring it to me and luckily I kept my head it and did what I was supposed to do," Flowers said. "I was upset because I kept getting under the ball kept popping up. I had to see the ball better, and that last at-bat I did."
The Hawks had been ousted by the Pirates in the sectionals the last two years with Reinhardt playing a significant role in both on the mound earning wins in each bout, including a complete game shutout the previous season.
"'It's really emotional because the last two years have been heartbreaking," Carrollton head coach Jeff Krumwiede said. "To get two runs off Reinhardt was big."
Walker started the inning off beating out a ground ball by diving head first into first base after Gibson Sippel 'couldn't hold onto the throw from short. The next batter, Gabe Jones followed up with a double and two batters later Flowers put Carrollton up for good. Those two runs off Reinhardt broke a 17-inning scoreless drought against him counting his two previous encounters with the Hawks.
"Give credit to Valmeyer; they've played great defense the whole game. Their defense for three years in a row against us has been impeccable every game. Running catches, diving stops, great plays," Krumwiede said. 'They're just tremendous, and they had a little hiccup on Walker. Gave us hope, and Jones and Flowers came through."
A crucial situation occurred in the bottom of the sixth inning when Valmeyer loaded the bases with no outs and cleanup hitter Riley McCarthy at the plate, who came into the game batting .457. An off-speed pitch bounced away from the catcher, Grant Pohlman off to his right, but after a couple of seconds, the runner on third broke for home and was tagged out comfortably at home plate. Later in the at-bat, McCarthy swung on and missed for strike three, but the ball got away from Pohlman and back to the back-stop. However, once Walker collected the ball at home plate, Sam Fitzwilliam, after electing not to run home, was still several feet off of third base. Having noticed that, Walker rifled a throw over and Garrett Settles applied the tag to record the second out of the inning. Logan Seidler then popped out to Clay Schnettegoecke at second base to get Carrollton out of the inning unscathed.
"Holding them in the situation we were in and they had two base running gaffes that gave us two outs, and you could feel the wave coming over," Krumwiede said. "Everything changed. Our fans were excited; our players were excited. I didn't need to get in the way of that. Getting out of that inning was a tremendous emotional lift, and we rode that wave."
Valmeyer, who finished as the state runner-up in Class 1A for the past two seasons, while defeating Carrollton along the way, finished their season at 18-15.
"I never thought we were out of it, but 'it's disappointing. The bottom of the sixth was probably our doing in," Valmeyer head coach Greg Reinhardt said. "We regrouped them, and I thought the bottom of the order showed a lot of grit to try to get where they were at."
Coach Reinhardt elected to start sophomore Jacob Rowold, who entered the contest with a 6-1 record, but Carrollton got on him early and often.
With two outs in the top of the first inning, Jones shot a double to right field advancing Gus Coonrod to third base. Valmeyer then intentionally walked Ethan Brannan loading the bases for Flowers, who hit a weak ground ball to third base and beat out the throw while it sailed over the first basemen scoring Coonrod and Jones. The next batter was Settles and lined an RBI single to left making it 3-0 Hawks.
The Pirates lineup would attack Brannan immediately as well.
After back-to-back walks and a single, which included a successful pickoff, McCarthy roped an RBI double scoring Fitzwilliam. Seidler followed with an RBI single and the next batter, Sippel tied the game on an RBI groundout. Up next was, Henry Weber who hit a deep fly ball to left field and the ball hit off Curtis 'Lake's glove for an error and gave the Pirates a 4-3 lead completely erasing 'Carrollton's early advantage.
Brannan faced four more batters until Krumwiede lifted him from the game in favor of Walker with the bases loaded and no outs with McCarthy up. He grounded a ball to Flowers at first base who bobbled the ball multiple times and ultimately 'couldn't make the throw to home plate in time. However, he decided to throw over to third base that skidded into foul territory, scoring another runner, making it 6-3 Pirates. Seidler upped it to 7-3 on an RBI sacrifice fly right after.
"Our strength is our depth in our pitching. We knew we would use Walker in this game we hoped for as little as possible, but we got to the point there we were down by one, and the bases were loaded, and Nathan has the ability to get out of those types of jams. Unfortunately they did score, but he did a nice job the rest of the way. 'He's our senior all-stater that we want on the hill when the times are tough."
Carrollton would not panic as they had the heart of the order due up in the top of the third.
After a Walker walk and Jones double who finished 3-for-4, Brannan laced a two-run double making it 7-5. Two batters later on the first pitch, Settles belted a two-run home run tying the game at seven apiece. That was his first home run of the season and finished 2-for-4 at the plate.
"I was up and thinking 'don't strike out, put the bat out there, and it went over the fence," Settles said. "It was the funnest game and hit my first home run of the year. The momentum swings changed all throughout the game. We scored a few, and they would come right back and score the same, but at the end, we pulled through. 'Everybody's hitting the ball well."
Reinhardt immediately brought in his son to stop the bleeding and would do so up until the seventh inning. Reinhardt threw four and two-thirds innings with three strikeouts; no walks, four hits, and allowed one earned run.
In the fourth inning, with the bases loaded and two outs, Reinhardt helped himself by scoring from third base on a passed ball barely beating out a throw.
That was the only earned run Walker allowed.
He threw five and two-thirds innings, allowing five hits while striking out eight batters and walking four.
"I got the call pretty early in this game, and my pitches 'weren't working as well as the other day, but they were still working," Walker said. "It was a great opportunity to test my mental strength, and we got it done."
Valmeyer's first five batters went a combined 9-for-14, and their bottom four were 1-for-15. They still 'didn't give in as Henry Weber got a base hit followed by a two-out walk by Evan Rowe-Brown to give Rowold, the leadoff hitter an opportunity to potentially win the game with an extra-base hit. However, Walker, on a 2-2 pitch, struck him out swinging to end it.
"'There's no other feeling ever. Getting beat by those guys the last two years, this is the biggest game 'I've played in my whole life and getting a victory is something special," Walker said.
Carrollton will meet the Gibault Catholic Hawks (23-8) at 11 a.m. on Saturday after they ten-run ruled Greenfield-Northwestern 13-3 in five innings in the other sectional semifinal. Carrollton will be going for their first sectional championship since 2011.
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