Trending
By Jaclyn Yingling
For the Mirror
FLINTON -- Tied 6-6 with Glendale heading into the top of the seventh inning, Bishop Carroll coach Bill Schenk looked up to the sky and asked for some divine intervention.
"I lost my dad to cancer in December," he said. "I just said right before those at bats, 'Dad, if there is anything you can do, show us right now.' We had one home run all year and then they go back-to-back. Sometimes there is just a higher power that we can't explain."
The Huskies got just that, hitting back-to-back solo homers to defeat Glendale 8-6 in the District 6 Class 1A quarterfinals on Monday.
Bishop Carroll had hit just one homer all season. On Monday, they had three.
The Huskies took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third after Jacob Gregg hit a solo shot of Vikings starter Troy Misiura.
Bishop Carroll then added a run in the fourth, as Grant Casses was hit by a pitch, stole second and moved to third on a sac bunt by Cullen Myers.
Casses came home on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
Glendale cut that to 2-1 in the bottom half of the inning as Misiura scored on an RBI groundout by Devin Kaufman.
But the Vikings momentum didn't last long, as the Huskies scored two more runs in the top of the fifth, chasing Misiura from the game.
Gregg, who started for Bishop Carroll and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning, found himself in a similiar situation in the bottom of the fifth.
After striking out the first two batters in the frame, he allowed a single to Frank Visnofsky and walked Bryson Davis.
With runners on first and second, Schenk made the decision to intentionally walk Misiura.
"We were talking about it (Sunday) and we did not want Troy to be the one to beat us," he said. "If the time was right, we would just pitch around him and see if the other guys would be able to beat us."
Connor Potutschnig singled off the pitcher, scoring a run and beating the throw to first, loading the bases.
The Huskies then went to Preston Gillin on the mound.
Levi Hamilton drew a walk to force in another run, cutting the lead to 4-3.
A two-run single from Kaufman scored both Misiura and Potutschnig to make it 5-4 Glendale.
James Jenkins singled to bring home Hamilton, giving the hosts the 6-4 lead.
But the Vikings, who have played with a short roster all season long, finally had the numbers game get to them.
James Shaw, who had been hitting eighth, was injured in the field the inning prior and was unable to continue.
The Vikings had just one player left on the bench in Braiden Keith. He came on to pinch hit and finished the game in right field.
Bishop Carroll was able to get out of the inning without any more damage.
"Our short numbers finally got us in this game," said Glendale coach Scott Misiura said. "With Shaw getting hurt, we had to juggle some things around. We had our DH in and you couldn't do anything with that. That definitely hurt us. We knew it was going to happen some time this year and it was a bad time for it to happen."
The Huskies tied things back up at 6-6 in the top of the sixth, as both Gillin and Cory Franceschini each had an RBI off Vikings reliever Landen McGarvey.
Bishop Carroll then got a big double play in the bottom of the sixth to head to its final at bat still tied.
Casses led off the inning, hitting his solo shot on the seventh pitch of his at bat over the left-center field fence.
Myers took the first pitch he was offered over the same section of fence to make it 8-6.
Luke Repko came on in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases, but got three strikeouts to set the final.
Bishop Carroll improved to 9-12 on the season. The Huskies host Portage, which upset No. 2 seed Blacklick Valley, 6-5, on Friday.
Glendale finished the year at 9-8.
BISHOP CARROLL (8): Repko cf-p 4120, Gillin 3b-p-1b 4022, Casses ss 2212, Myers rf 2111, Mento 1b-cf 4000, Sekerak 2b 2100, Gregg p-3b 4111, Franceschini dh 1211, Becquet c 0000, Oravec lf 3000. Totals: 26-8-8-7.
GLENDALE (6): Davis cf 3110, Misiura p-2b-1b 2210, Potutschnig c 3111, Hamilton ss 1101, Kaufman 3b 4013, Jenkins lf-2b 3011, McGarvey 2b-p 3010, Shaw 1b 2000, Keith ph-rf 2000, Visnofsky dh 2110, Lukehart rf-lf 0000. Totals: 25-6-7-6.
Score by Innings
Bishop Carroll 001 122 2--8 8 1
Glendale 000 150 0--6 7 0
Errors--Repko. Hamilton. HR--Casses, Myers, Gregg. SAC--Myers. SF--Casses. HBP--Casses, Myers, Sekerak. SB--Repko 3, Casses, Sekerak, Franceschini. IBB--Misiura, McGarvey.
PITCHING
Bishop Carroll: Gregg--4 2/3 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 5 SO. Gillin--1 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO. Repko--1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO.
Glendale: Misiura--4 2/3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO. McGarvey--2 1/3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO.
WP--Gillin. LP--McGarvey (4-2). S--Repko.