Baseball Carlisle 4, Clinton-MAssie 2
Injured Indian pitches complete game for win
Carlisle beats Clinton-Massie in Division III sectional semifinals with pitching, good defense.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
CARLISLE — On the 10th pitch of the game, Carlisle starter Kyle England took a nasty hit off his right ankle bone.
He went down for a moment, but got up, walked it off then tossed a complete-game to lead the Indians to a 4-2 win over Clinton-Massie on Wednesday, May 14, in the Division III sectional semifinals.
Extras
England, who struck out five and improved his record to 7-1, admitted after the game that by the third inning his ankle had gone numb.
"I was just trying to stay focused," England said. "I hurt pretty bad. It was a bad way to start the game, but I didn't really think about it. I just fought through the pain and tried not to let it affect me."
Unofficially, England threw 109 pitches, going to a full count on a number of hitters, but the Indians had a stellar defensive performance including two double plays, both of which ended innings.
"That says a lot about Kyle's competitiveness," said Carlisle coach Brad Sizemore, whose team improved to 22-5 and will play the winner of the Waynesville-Fenwick game at 3 p.m. Friday in the D-III sectional finals at Centerville.
Carlisle only had five hits in the game, one each by Ben Dellaposta, Joe Profitt, England, Jake Parrish and Dylan Brandenburg. But aggressive base running helped the Indians put up two runs in the first and third innings, taking advantage of five Falcon errors, four of them in the third inning.
"That's the story of our year," Clinton-Massie coach Jeskee Zantene said. "Our pitchers did well, but you just can't compete at a high level in the sectional tournament when you make errors."
The Falcons (12-11) stranded nine runners in the game, but finally got a couple of runs across in the seventh inning when Cory Hoffer and Colin Dunlap scored on back-to-back, two-out singles by Zach Stanforth and Tyler Hayslip. England, however, induced Byron Hale into a ground out to end the rally.
"To be honest, I thought we were a little flat offensively," Sizemore said. "It was just one of those games where we got four runs early and kind of coasted. That's kind of scary in the tournament.
"But once you get to the sectional finals, you are going to play strong competition. We'll be ready to play."
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2852, or sweaver@coxohio.com.
