BELLWOOD - In the classic movie, "The Princess Bride" a showdown of wits occurs between the hero Westley and Vizzini, who is attempting to stop Westley's quest.
A pair of cups are provided - one supposedly filled with poison and one without - and one must be chosen.
Claysburg-Kimmel manager Justin Harris faced a similar situation Saturday as his Bulldogs took on Juniata Valley at Bellwood in the first round of the District 6 Class A baseball playoffs.
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Like the movie, in which both cups were poison, it turned out there was really no right answer.
Harris opted to intentionally walk David Ormsby, who was already 3-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBIs, to load the bases for Seth Carper with the Bulldogs down only two runs in the fifth inning.
Carper turned out to be Claysburg's demise as he slugged a grand slam to put the game away in an eventual 14-5 Green Hornets win.
"I felt that was the blow of the game," Juniata Valley manager Bill Peters said. "I think that took a little starch out of them. I don't know how well they know Seth, but Seth has been hitting the ball very well all year. I was very happy and pleased for him."
Carper finished the game 3-for-4 with a double, a walk and six RBIs.
"Looking back on it, it obviously wasn't the right decision," Harris said. "But the other guy was 3-for-3, [pitcher] Trey [Claar] doesn't like to pitch to left-handers and that came back to haunt us. Either way it was going to be tough."
The sixth-seeded Green Hornets will now travel to third-seeded Ferndale Monday at 4 p.m.
Early in the game, it appeared as though Claysburg-Kimmel may be on the winning side of a blowout. C-K, which dropped both of its regular season matchups against Juniata Valley, took a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Claar led off with a home run, Tyler Ickes doubled and Doug Knisely drove in two more runs with a single before an out was recorded.
However, Green Hornets starter Billy Edmiston stopped the bleeding there, getting a grounder and two strikeouts to end the inning.
Juniata Valley responded with four runs in its half of the first inning thanks to doubles from Ethan Morrison, Cody Patterson and Carper.
"That was big for us to answer right away," Carper said. "I thought we'd be a little bit down, being down 3-0, but getting those runs helped us out and carried us the rest of the game."
The big inning seemed to calm Edmiston down. The junior right-hander allowed a run on two hits in the second that tied the score but managed to pitch the final five innings while allowing only one run. He finished with 10 strikeouts and just one walk.
"Billy has beaten them before," Peters said. "But I told them, you can't take a team for granted. I don't think we really did, but they were more aggressive today, but I thought Billy reacted very well to giving up those early runs."
The Green Hornets finished the game with 16 hits in 33 at bats for a .485 team average in the game off Claysburg's top starter. Three of those hits, along with three runs, came from No. 9 hitter Trent Brown.
"We got three runs in the first inning, and usually with Trey pitching, we don't need a whole lot more than that," Harris said. "But they came right back, and that just took all the momentum we had right there.
"We're a young team. We start seven sophomores, and we had some young mistakes, but I look forward to the future. We should have a really good team next year."
CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL (5): Claar p-1b 411, T. Ickes 2b-ss 313, Weyandt cf 410, Knisely 1b-p-3b 401, Cox ss-p 401, Miller rf 000, Repko dh 401, Helsel c 201, Burkett 3b 000, Strayer 3b-2b 300, J. ickes lf 321. Totals - 31-5-9.
JUNIATA VALLEY (14): Morrison ss 422, Patterson 2b 422, Belinda cr-2b 020, Ormsby lf 323, Carper c 413, Gildea cr 010, Musser 3b 401, Perow 3b 000, Norris 1b 300, Johnson 1b 100, Edmiston p 402, Varner rf 310, Watson rf 000, Brown cf 333. Totals -33-14-16.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Claysburg-Kimmel310 001 0- 5 9 1
Juniata Valley400 154 X-14 16 4
E-Helsel, Ormsby, Musser 3. 2B-T. Ickes 2, Morrison, Ormsby, Carper, Patterson, Brown. HR - Claar, Carper. RBI-Knisely 2, T. Ickes 2, Claar, Carper 6, Ormsby 3, Patterson 2, Morrison, Musser, Perow. WP-Edmiston. LP-Claar. SO-Claar 2, Edmiston 10. BB-Claar 3, Knisely 3, Cox 1, Edmiston 1. SB-T. Ickes, Weyandt, Cox, J. Ickes 2.
Records: Claysburg-Kimmel (9-10); Juniata Valley (13-5).
