Down 11, resilient Cougars claw back to beat Scotties, 22-20
By JAMIE RANKIN
For the MV Independent
It took four hours and a combined 42 runs, but Tuesday’s Section 4(3A) baseball game between Charleroi and host Southmoreland finally determined a winner. The Cougars used a three-run home run from Ben Shields to power a four-run ninth inning on the way to a 22-20 victory.
The win came after Charleroi rallied from an 11-run deficit in the middle innings.
“We just finally showed a lot of resilience,” Charleroi head coach Luke Mollis said. “We’ve been preaching all year that you’re never out of the game. This was one of those games where you had to stay in the game because you didn’t know what could happen.”
What happened was a wild ride, with the lead changing hands on more than one occasion before the game eventually headed into extra innings.
The Scotties were on top early, as Brok Potoka’s RBI double in the bottom of the first brought Ben Zimmerman home. Potoka scored on an error for a 2-0 lead.
The Cougars gained the advantage with a five-run third inning, thanks to a few Southmoreland errors. Zach Usher, Nico Rongaus, Joey Campbell, Shields and Ethan Hadsell all crossed the plate for the 5-2 lead.
But the Scotties enjoyed a big third of their own. Kory Ansell swatted a two-run double, and Owen King singled to bring in two runners as Southmoreland saw nine runs cross the plate for an 11-2 advantage. After turning a double play in the top of the fourth, the team added five more runs in the bottom of the frame, highlighted by Anthony Govern’s two-run single.
Up 16-5, the Scotties just needed to hold Charleroi to a run in the top of the fifth. But the Cougars had other plans. They took advantage of a few walks, errors and a hit batter to post four runs, adding five more in the sixth inning, including an RBI single from Usher.
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