The Washington C.H. 10-year-old all-stars had to wait three days to finish the District Eight championship game against Enon and the wait turned out to be worth it as the local squad, 10-5.
Washington C.H. went 5-0 in the District Eight tournament and will now advance to the State tournament in Hamilton, Ohio beginning Saturday, Aug. 1.
The two teams began the game at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon at Lewis Street.
Washington C.H. was leading 5-1 in the bottom of the second when the game was halted due to lightning and then postponed when the rains came, making the field unplayable.
Wednesday’s weather was warm with much less humidity and friendly white clouds floating high in a pure blue sky.
Jonah Waters led the all-stars at the plate, going 3 for 3 with a double, three runs batted in and three runs scored.
A.J. Dallmayer went 2 for 2, driving in one run and scoring two.
On Sunday, in the bottom of the first inning, Waters and Dallmayer walked and both scored on a wild pitch and an error.
Enon got a run in the top of the second on two singles and a couple of wild pitches.
Washington C.H.’s big inning came in the bottom of the second.
The team batted around, scoring five runs to take a 7-1 lead.
Drew Guthrie walked with one out. Cody Brown was sent in to pinch-run for Guthrie.
Dillon Hyer hit a double just inside the left field line with Brown stopping at third.
With two away, Waters doubled just inside the right field line, scoring Brown and Hyer.
Brayden Kettles singled up the middle, scoring Waters to make it 5-1.
With Dallmayer at the plate, this is when the delay and eventual postponement came.
Wednesday night, Dallmayer concluded his at-bat with a single, scoring Kettles.
He moved up on a passed ball and scored on a single by Tyler Tackage to make it 7-1.
Enon stayed in the game, scoring twice in the third on a triple, a fielder’s choice, two errors and an infield hit.
In the third, Washington C.H. had just one hit, an infield single by Guthrie.
The starting pitcher, Tanner Lemaster, retired the side in order in the fourth with a pair of strikeouts and a fly out.
In the bottom of the fourth, Waters had an infield hit and made it to third on a passed ball and a wild pitch.
With one away and Dallmayer at the plate, Waters scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-3.
Dallmayer then hit a single to left field.
He was erased on a fielder’s choice by Tackage.
Lemaster then hit a triple to score Tackage to make it 9-3.
In the fifth, Enon scored two runs on two hits with the help of two Washington C.H. errors.
Washington C.H. added one run in the fifth.
With the first two batters retired, Brown reached on an error.
He moved up on a passed ball and scored on a single by Waters.
In the top of the sixth, Enon got their first batter on third base thanks to two Washington C.H. errors.
Cole Little was now on to pitch for Washington C.H.
He struck out the second batter and the next batter hit the ball to Guthrie at first base. He stepped on the bag for the second out and threw to the catcher, Waters, who tagged the runner out for the game-ending double play.
Lemaster pitched five innings with five runs allowed on seven hits. He struck out eight.
“All the kids are so good,” Washington C.H. head coach Blanton Brown said. “The kids play on two travel teams and there’s another kid who plays on a Dayton team and another kid plays on basically a combined travel team.
“The kids came together and played really well,” Brown said. “I’m just proud of all of them for what they did.
“I want to thank my coaches and all the parents,” Brown said. “All the people for showing up tonight.
“All the kids have just worked hard this year,” Brown said. “Any time one of our players comes up to the plate, I’m sure they’re going to get a hit, that’s how confident I am in them. Our defense is good, our offense is good and our pitching is great. We just got it done.
“Hats off to Enon,” Brown said. “They’re a great team. We’re going to be competing against them, I can tell you, for the next two years. They’ll probably have a little chip on their shoulders when we play them next season.
“They’re excited about going to State,” Brown said. “That was the goal from the get-go. Anything else and they would have been disappointed. Now we really want to win some games at the State.”
Offensively for Washington C.H.: Jonah Waters, 3-3, 3 runs, 1 bb, 1 2b, 3 rbi; Brayden Kettles, 1-4, 1 rbi, 1 run; A.J. Dallmayer, 2-2, 2 runs, 1 bb, 1 rbi; Tyler Tackage, 1-2, 1 rbi, 1 run; Tanner Lemaster, 1-3, 1 3b, 1 rbi; Tate Landrum, 0-2; Drew Guthrie, 1-2, 1 bb; Dillon Hyer, 1-2, 1 2b, 1 run; Kylan Howard, 0-2; Cody Brown, 0-0, roe, 2 runs; Cole Little, 0-1; Collin Southworth, 0-1.
R
E 012 020 — 5
W 250 21x — 10
