'Just an awesome experience': Area all-stars get one final win

PERKINS TWP. — Graduated seniors from Erie and Ottawa County schools (and Norwalk and St. Paul) had to wait a few extra days to don their high school baseball caps for the final time. It was worth the wait for the area athletes, though, especially because they dominated proceedings on Monday night in an 8-1 victory over a team composed primarily of Richland County athletes. "I was really excited when I came here," Perkins' Landon Kim said. "I've played with a lot of these guys over the last few years. It was a lot of fun playing with them again." Kim and Margaretta's Austin Dillery each had two hits and three RBI at the dish. Sandusky's Elijah Baker tossed three scoreless innings as part of a dominant committee pitching effort that saw five pitchers combine on a four-hitter. "It's great," Dillery said. "Always want another chance to play with the guys. Some of the guys I've played against, it's fun playing with them." The only real negative for the local ballplayers was the start. Tiffin Calvert's Mason Johnson struck out the first three Erie/Ottawa hitters. In the bottom of the first, the SBC River MVP Johnson laced a double down the right-field line. South Central's first-team All-Ohio selection Karl Ferber lined a single up the middle, and a first-and-third steal play got Johnson home for a 1-0 lead. "They tagged me for a couple, but it was fun to get some nice throwing against really good competition," Kim said. Johnson worked a scoreless second, too, and Lucas star Andrew Smollen stranded the bases loaded with three strikeouts in the third. The Erie/Ottawa breakthrough came in the fifth. Genoa's Robert Messenger was hit by a pitch, then Margaretta's Colson Biehl singled. That set up the lefty-hitting Kim to line a double down the left-field line to score two. "This summer has gotten off to a really, really good start for me," Kim said. "Just kept the same approach of trying to take it middle or opposite field." Later in the inning, Dillery copied the opposite-field trend with a liner down the right-field line to score two more for a 4-1 lead. "My approach is just to swing as hard as possible," Dillery said. "I wanted to put one over the fence, but it didn't happen." Dillery was thrown out trying to stretch two bases into three, but in an all-star game he jogged off the field with a smile on his face. "Coach (Ray) Neill probably wouldn't be happy about that one," Dillery said, "but had to show off the wheels." Four runs was more than enough, because the Erie/Ottawa pitchers were dealing. After Kim allowed a run in the first, Margaretta's Reese Keegan threw scoreless second and third innings. Baker entered for the fourth and put up three zeroes. Genoa's Brady Belegrin, working with a nasty curveball and a sneaky quick pitch, threw two scoreless of his own with four strikeouts. "Our guys did a great job on the mound," Kim said. In that time, Erie/Ottawa added four more runs. One in the sixth came when Keegan worked a walk and used some errant pitches to come around and score. In the seventh, Norwalk's Cooper Smith lined a one-out double down the line to spark more. "That felt great," Smith said. "Little off the end cap, but still felt nice. I'm a little slow, so I had to get it going out of the box." He scored on an RBI grounder from Danbury's Marco Shvorob. Kim and Dillery each capped their big nights with RBI in the ninth — Kim on a sac fly, Dillery on a single up the middle. That brought on the big righty Smith of the Truckers for the final three outs. Norwalk had maybe the most vocal cheering section of the night, and they were thrilled when Smith sprinted to the rubber. "That's just great to know that all my best friends came out to support," Smith said. Smith didn't make the fans sit around much longer — he struck out all three batters he faced, all on breaking balls, to end the night. "That felt good, the best it's been all season probably," Smith said. After a few postgame pictures, the graduated seniors strolled off into the night and into their respective futures. But they all still had those high school baseball hats on, at least for a few final special moments. "It's just an awesome experience," Smith said. Erie/Ottawa 000 041 102 — 8 7 2Richland 100 000 000 — 1 4 4 WP: Baker. LP: Lunsford 2B: (E/O) Kim, Dillery, Smith; (R) Johnson 2. 3B: (E/O) Thomas Zuccaro