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Down & Dirty

Fighting Squirrels Advance With Late Run, Reischman Shines

Charleston, Missouri manager Mike Minner sat in the press box at Diethrick Park early Friday evening, the guest of the radio station that is bringing the Fighting Squirrels’ deep run in the Babe Ruth 16-18 World Series back to their fans in the Midwest Plains.

Minner was answering questions in measured tones, but when the interview was over, he got up out of his chair and greeted another media member in a more animated way in the room next door.

“Wow, is right,” he exclaimed, a smile creasing his face.

Minner had reason to be excited.

The Fighting Squirrels pushed across an unearned run with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning and held on for a 2-1 victory over Williamsport in an outstanding semifinal game.

Alabama’s Reece Ewing, right, slides into third base while Bakersfield’s Kaiden Conrad (7) waits for the ball during Game 24. P-J photo by Alex Shipherd

The Midwest Plains Region champion will take on Alabama, a 9-1 winner over Bakersfield, California, at 1 p.m. today for the title.

“It’s always your hope (to get there),” said Minner, who saw his team lose, 1-0, in last year’s semifinal. “This group has broken a barrier we’ve had, and we’re going to have an opportunity to play for a national championship, which is amazing.”

Last night’s first of two semifinals was pretty amazing, indeed.

“When you look at a game that’s 2-1 and there are three hits and two hits, you know a mistake is going to cost you in the late innings,” West End manager Tory Shimp said. “We wanted to hang around, because we knew they were really good, but we were the team that made a mistake and that cost us.”

Winning pitcher Drew Reischman went the distance, tossing a three-hitter, striking out four and walking one. He also helped his own cause with an RBI single in the third inning and he singled again in the sixth in what turned out to be the game-changing at-bat.

Reischman was immediately lifted for pinch-runner Ajay Sager, who came around to score on a West End fielding error for the go-ahead run. Reischman then retired Williamsport in order in the top of the seventh.

(Reischman) probably won 85 percent of his pitches today,” Minner said. “What a great day to be a Squirrel. The Squirrel magic came through again. We’re going to see if we have any left in the bottle.”

Trip Breen took the loss for Williamsport, although he pitched brilliantly through 5.2 innings. In addition to striking out six, he allowed just the two hits, both by Reischman, walked three and hit a batter.

“Trip was fantastic,” Shimp said. “He went deep into counts a lot – he had a lot of 3-2 counts – but he won pitches and I think it took a little bit of a toll on him at the end. But he was absolutely fantastic. Their pitcher was, too.”

Williamsport opened the scoring in the first inning when leadoff batter Quinten Brown reached first on a fielding error by Charleston first baseman Kasten Campbell. Cam Pardoe then laid down an apparent sacrifice bunt, but when Reischman and catcher Bobby Wright bumped into each other attempting to pick up the ball, Pardoe was safe with an infield hit. Cody Shimp then followed with another bunt that moved the runners up a base and Isaac Snyder drilled a sacrifice fly to deep left-center that allowed Brown to score via the sacrifice fly.

That turned out to be West End’s only run of the game as Reischman allowed just two hits the rest of the way.

Breen, meanwhile, was just as effective, but he saw his defense crack at the most critical time.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Reischman drilled a single to left-center and was promptly replaced by the speedy Sager. Breen struck out Turner Fritts for the second out, but he walked Will Pratt, which prompted Shimp to bring on left-hander Kyle Caringi in relief. Facing Ronin Rice, the No. 6 hitter, Caringi appeared to be out of the inning when he induced a grounder to shortstop Tanner Esposito, who threw to first baseman Eric Holz. Holz, however, dropped the ball and Sager scored what would prove to be the winning run.

“That’s OK,” Shimp said. “The kid who made the mistake? We wouldn’t have got here without him. It’s not one play. We had opportunities. We just didn’t take advantage of them.”

Added Minner, who spoke with Holz for a moment after the game:: “It shows not everything is routine. You have to finish the play. … We kind of built that momentum. We play hard and it rushes things.”

Reischman retired the side in order in the top of the seventh on a groundout and two strikeouts, sending Charleston into today’s final.

“What a tremendous job by Drew,” Minner said, “and (Breen) was as good as we’ve seen.”

Minner said he wasn’t sure who would start today’s championship game. Meanwhile, West End exits the tournament just shy of its intended goal.

“We’re not the biggest kids in the world, but they play pretty good baseball,” Shimp said. “We pitch it and we catch it. It was a great tournament, it really was.”

Asked what he would say to his team as it gathered for the final time, Shimp acknowledged that it was going to be difficult.

“This group has been together a long time,” he said. “It’s going to be tough. I’ve thanked them already.”

NOTES: Reischman and Breen were named the Ron Tellefsen outstanding players of the game. … Snyder had a double in the fourth inning for Williamsport, joining Brown and Pardoe in the hit column.

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