Standing on second base, representing the winning run, Shelton’s Dan St. George saw Career Magnet’s catcher call for a fastball.
“I knew that was a mistake,” St. George said.
He was right.
Cleanup hitter Mike Georgalas scorched a single to score St. George to end a 4 – 3 thriller at Shelton High School Friday.
Things weren’t looking good for the Gaels as they entered the final inning, down 3 – 2.
Career Magnet’s starting pitcher, Sheldon Poole had shut them down for most of the day.
The Ninth
“He was doing a great job with his junk pitches. Being aggressive is not how you take advantage of that type of pitcher. We knew we had to make an adjustment,” Shelton third baseman Ryan Zahornasky said.
“When I led off the bottom of the inning I went with a more patient approach and was just looking to make contact. I think the pitcher was tiring a bit as he left a pitch up and over the plate. I simply put good wood on the ball and ended up with a double.”
Zahornasky would move to third base on a throwing error.
Next up, St. George.
“I went up thinking ‘I just want to get the ball to the outfield to score Ryan on a sacrifice fly,” he said.
St. George lifted a drive to deep left center for a double that tied the game and put him in scoring position as the winning run.
Career Magnet went with a pitching change and replaced Poole with their closer to face Georgalas.
“The whole team was really pumped up when Ryan led off with the double. I went up to the plate a little overly excited and wanting to drive a first-pitch fastball to end the game,” Georgalas said.
The first two pitches were curveballs he swung on and missed. He was in the hole 0 – 2.
“I wasn’t feeling as excited at that point,” Georgalas said. “I fully expected the closer to come in and want to start off with a first-pitch-fastball strike. Everyone knows that the best pitch to hit off a reliever is usually the first pitch.”
That’s when St. George caught a glimpse of things to come as he saw the sign for a fastball from the catcher. Georgalas eventually got his first pitch on the third pitch – a fastball down the middle of the plate – and finished the game with the the RBI single, raising Shelton’s record to 2 – 0.
Tom Carroll was the winning pitcher for the Gaels.
He overcame early adversity as his control was a little off after giving up three runs in the first inning, but was able to establish his location and shut Magnet down the rest of the way.
“I’m really proud of the way that Tom battled back and how well he was able to keep his composure,” Shelton coach Scott Gura said. “His location was up a little bit in the beginning, but he battled back and showed his mental toughness and just what an excellent pitcher he is with six scoreless innings afterward.”
“There were two winners out there today” Gura said. “You hate to see the other team lose when they played as well as they did – especially the effort the pitcher gave because we were struggling with him all game.”