Tyrone picks up walk-off victory
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By Jon Fleck
For the Mirror
Tyrone entered the bottom of the seventh in its 2022 Curve Classic opener trailing Hollidaysburg, 4-3, but immediately got something going when Cortlynd Rhoades reached on an error and Ryan Light walked to bring up the top of the order with no outs.
Ashton Walk singled home Rhoades with the tying run. Light and Walk advanced to second and third on the throw to the plate. After David Lang was intentionally walked to load the bases, the stage was set for Ross Gampe to deliver the walk-off win.
"Having two on, nobody out rolling to the top of the order, you can't ask for more when you're down by one," he said. "I just had to put one in play, and something good would happen."
Gampe promptly lined a single into right center to score Light and give the Golden Eagles a 5-4 victory Thursday at PNG Field.
"Maybe it happened back in little league. It hasn't happened a while," he said of the walk-off hit. "It feels great just to get our team a win and keep us alive in this tournament."
Hollidaysburg (4-5) not only hurt its chances with an error in the seventh, but an error in the second and another in the third helped Tyrone plate its first three runs.
"The difference was four of their five runs were unearned. We made some nice plays in the field, but then we made some costly mistakes that gave 'em unearned runs," Hollidaysburg coach Jon Szynal said. "The innings that they scored we had at least one error."
The Golden Tigers broke out on top with single runs in the first and second innings.
Carson Kensinger led off the game with a double then scored on Matt Smith's single. In the second, Drew Banks doubled home Bradey Michaels, who singled to lead off the inning.
Banks and Michaels each went 2-for-3. Banks drove in two runs with a pair of doubles, and Michaels singled twice, scored two runs and drove another run home.
Tyrone (6-4) answered with two in the bottom of the second and another in the third for a 3-2 lead.
Nick Lehner singled in Luke Brooks, who reached on an error, and Rhoades produced an RBI-groundout that scored Zach LeGars. Walk reached on an error the next inning and eventually scored on a Gampe sacrifice fly.
"Our bats are coming around. We didn't hit it a ton, but we hit it when it mattered, plus they gave us a few walks," Tyrone coach Kevin Soellner said. "Like their coach said to me, errors and walks kill you, and that's what killed them at the end. We gave 'em some runs, too. Most of the runs came off errors."
Michaels scored a run on an error in the fourth to tie it then drove in Jacob Hileman in the sixth to give Hollidaysburg the lead at the time. Hileman triple over the centerfielder's head to lead off the inning.
Tyrone plays the winner of the today's Altoona-Selinsgrove game on Saturday. Hollidaysburg plays the loser of that game later today.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (4): Kensinger 1b-lf 311, Smith ss 201, Kratzer 3b-p 200, Perry p-1b 401, Sell c 400, Hileman cf 311, Michaels rf 322, Hockey 2b 400, Banks 3b-ss 302, Stevenson lf 000, Anderson dh 300, Rossman 3b 000. Totals -- 31 4 8.
TYRONE (5): Walk ss 411, Lang lf-p 201, Gampe p-1b 301, Brooks 1b-2b-rf 310, LeGars cf 211, Lehner 3b 201, Hamer c 301, Rhoades 2b-1b 311, Coleman rf-lf 000, Light dh 210. Totals -- 24 5 7
SCORE BY INNINGS
Hollidaysburg 110 101 0 -- 4 8 3
Tyrone 021 000 2 -- 5 7 3
E-Smith, Banks, Kratzer, Walk 2, Lehner. 2B-Banks 2, Kensinger. 3B-Hileman. RBI-Smith, Banks 2, Michaels, Gampe 2, Lehner, Walk, Rhoades. WP-Lang. LP-Perry. SO-Perry 5, Gampe 4. BB-Lang 1.
Records: Hollidaysburg (4-5), Tyrone (6-4).