So, Myers threw 108 pitches, struck out 11 and allowed only one hit to lead Shawnee to a 4-1 victory over Cincinnati Summit Country Day and the Braves’ first district title since 2013.
“He’s a gamer, he’s competitive,” Armstrong said. “He’s going to get behind guys, but he’s not going to let them get on for free. That’s what we’ve gotten out of him all year.”
Shawnee (18-10) will face Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (19-8) in the Division III regional semifinal at 2 p.m. Thursday at Wright State’s Nischwitz Stadium. CHCA defeated Brookville 3-2. Cincinnati Country Day faces Cincinnati McNicholas at 5 in the other semifinal.
“It feels great,” Myers said of the opportunity to be one win from the state semifinals. “We really came together this year. We lost some key components last year and we came back strong and battled and here we are today. And we’ll keep pushing.”
Summit’s only hit was a leadoff double in the fourth inning that led to its only run on a passed ball, cutting Shawnee’s lead to 3-1. But Myers (6-3) wasn’t rattled.
“We just go out there as pitchers and are taught to hit our spots, take care of business, throw quality pitches in quality counts, get ahead in the count,” he said. “That’s how we do our jobs.”
Myers scored his team’s first run. He led off the first inning with a double and scored on a passed ball. The Braves made the score 3-0 in the third when Mike Moore singled home Zac Spitzer. Then Patrick Fultz scored on a passed ball.
Fultz doubled home Spitzer, who had been hit by a pitch, for the game’s final run in the fifth.
The Braves will be trying to win their first regional game next week since the late 1970s. Armstrong said the team has been strengthened by seven seniors and a difficult schedule, one that Armstrong said might have been the toughest in Clark County. A 1-4 start included three losses against Division I teams.
“We just learned who we were, how we could hit, how we could get guys on, what our pitching and defense could do,” Armstrong said. “Finally we found a good group of kids that fit where they need to be to make the team better.”
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