By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
(PETTISVILLE) – With the sun gone and the very distinct possibility of the unspeakable tie in a baseball game, Pettisville’s Creighton Aeschliman was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh that forced home the winning run in the Blackbirds 8-7 marathon victory over Delta.
The Birds entered the final inning of the lengthy affair knotted at 7-7 but loaded the sacks with some help from the Panthers.
Lead-off batter Aiden Crawford reached on an error and one out later River Vajen was plunked by a Jaden Lohman pitch to put runners on first and second.
Quinn Ripke’s infield nubber went for an infield hit to load the bases for Aeschliman, who took one in the side for the walk-off.
Delta had taken a 2-0 first inning lead thanks to Gary Valentine’s two-run single, and after Sebastian May’s run scoring double cut the lead in the second, Vincent Maurer roped a triple to right and scored on a wild pitch to regain the Panthers two-run lead in the top of the third.
However, at that point Delta starter Lane Lopez began to experience problems finding the zone as three walks and a hit batter brought Pettisville to a 3-2 advantage in the third, then three more base on balls in the fourth, followed by Ripke’s two-run single and an RBI hit from Aeschliman gave Pettisville a 5-3 lead.
Jacob Walter singled to start the fifth, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Hayden Boulton’s safety squeeze to slice the Blackbird lead to one.
The Panthers then tied it when Gabe Cansky lumbered into second on a double and scored on an error. Three Delta errors in the sixth gave Pettisville a two-run lead but Blackbird starter Caden Bishop allowed hits to Emilio Arroyo-Sierra and Walker to start the seventh.
Rylan Warner came to the mound, but the Panthers worked the double steal for one run and Boulton’s second bunt sac scored the tying tally heading into the seventh before the Birds countered with a rally that ended with Aeschliman being hit by a pitch.
Warner ended up with the victory on the mound. Ripke was the leading hitter in the game, getting two of the Blackbirds four hits.
Pettisville took advantage of nine Delta walks, four hit batters and five Panther errors.