Conrad Chiropractic/Lilly American Legion survives Game 3 in extra innings
Greater City League championship series
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When you're down 2-0 in a best-of-5 series the way defending Altoona Greater City League champion Conrad Chiropractic/Lilly American Legion is, sometimes the best thing to do is break down the series into best-of-ones.
Thursday night in a contest where both pitchers put on a superb pitchers' duel, it took extra innings to get the last run.
That came in the bottom of the ninth as Ryan Ickes smacked a walk-off single to keep Lilly's hopes of an eighth straight title -- and a possible 21st in the last 24 years -- alive by scoring C.J. McCoy for a 2-1 win over Sheetz in game 3 at Vets Field.
"That's what we had to do -- win," Lilly manager Lucas McCoy said. "It doesn't matter how you win -- 10-1, 11-1, 2-1 -- it doesn't matter. It starts off with Shane (Suter) pitching into the ninth. He threw a little over 100 pitches on five days rest.
"A lot of guys think five days is enough. Shane is 40-something years old. He pitched his butt off just like our pitchers have done all series. He didn't get the win, but we got the win today."
Suter pitched a spectacular 8 1/3 innings, allowing one run on six hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
"What a game that was," Sheetz manager Kyle DeGennaro said. "We knew this game was going to be tough. To beat them three times in a row, that's almost unheard of with Lilly. We battled, we left a couple of guys on, we didn't get guys in when we needed to. The pitching was stellar on both sides. We just didn't make enough plays in the end."
Sheetz answered with a strong performance from Blake Johnston, going 8• innings on his own giving up two runs on six hits, five walks and three strikeouts.
Sheetz drew first blood in the third as Parker Gregg reached on a fielder's choice. Lucas Muffie drove him in on a line drive for an early 1-0 lead.
Lilly tied the game in the fifth as Landon Sinclair reached on a single. Ryan Ickes belted a line drive to right field, which allowed Sinclair to score, tying the game at 1.
"We had a clean first inning defensively," Lucas McCoy said. "They didn't put three on the board (right away). That's kind of been our Achillies heel this playoff. Coming out with zeroes right there set the tone. That was a nice ballgame all the way around."
Sheetz had the go-ahead runners in scoring position in the ninth, but during Evan Young's at bat, Lilly went to Aiden Coleman who issued a free pass. Coleman went on to strike out the next two batters to thwart the rally.
Lucas McCoy knows the expectations Lilly has for competing as this level, and he believes Thursday night's win is a reminder of what they built
"We aren't giving up; we're here to win this thing," he said. "It doesn't matter down 2-0, up 2-0, it's the same mentality. We're out there winning. No one needs reminded of that. There's only one reason you play here for Lilly, and that's to win."
DeGennaro also understands that winning the third against a battle-tested group is always the hard part.
"I said to my guys, 'Hey, this is not going to be easy, this is going to be a long series. They might win one, we go to the next game,'" he said. "It's a tough loss, but we're still ahead in the series and we need to regroup here and get back at it tomorrow."
Before the game, the league handed out its annual award as Lilly's Ryan Ickes and Raymond Watt of Sinisi Detailing won the Matt Adamiak Batting Title. The Frank Eby Rookie of the Year Award went to Alexander Yost of Lilly, and Evan Sanders of Sheetz won the William Schirf Pitcher of the Year honor. Rich Ball of Pro Fab Solutions was the George Wagner MVP.
Game 4 will be tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Vets Field.
SHEETZ (1): Gregg cf 411, Steinbugl ss 301, Muffie 3b-p 401, E. Sanders rf 400, Kravetz DH 401, Schmoke 2b 000, Johnston p 000, Detrick lf 401, Young 2b-3b 301, Speece 1b 400, C. Sanders c 300. Totals -- 33-1-6.
LILLY CONRAD CHIROPRACTIC (2): R. Ickes cf 401, Gallaher 1b 400, B. Ickes ss 401, Hillard 2b 403, Gully c 300, Dunlap dh 400, Sinclair 3b 411, Fabbri rf 000, C. McCoy ph-rf 110, Bracken lf 101. Totals -- 29-2-7.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Sheetz 001 000 000 - 1 6 0
Lilly 000 010 001 - 2 7 0
2B--Kravetz (S). RBI--Muffie (S); R. Ickes 2 (L).
PITCHING COMPARISON
SHEETZ: Johnston (L) 8.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 3 SO; Muffie 0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO.
LILLY: Suter 8.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO; Coleman (W) 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO.
Series: Sheetz leads series 2-1.