By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
METAMORA (May 17, 2025) – I wise man once said….make the most of your opportunities because you never know when the next will come.
Evergreen outhit Fairview 10-9 in the opening game of a doubleheader but left eight on base as the Apaches scored a 6-3 win. In the nightcap, Fairview rang up 20 hits in a 17-4 romp to move to 20-2 on the year. Evergreen fell to 11-9.
The Apaches scored an unearned run in the opening inning off starter Troy Manz in the opener. Elijah Arend and Shady Fritch singled and moved up on a sacrifice to second and third.
After a hit batter, Sean Rafferty fired out from behind the plate to spear Noah Shininger’s high chopper, spun and touched home but his throw over the base runner heading to first was too tall and a run scored on the play.
It was contested that the runner to first was inside the running lane, obstructing Rafferty’s throw but the original no call was upheld.
Fairview added three more in the fourth, two came home on Arend’s two run single, making it 4-0. Evergreen got one back in the bottom of the inning when Bryce Bolger’s single drove home Colton Robertson who had singled and stole second.
Fairview tacked on a run in the fifth when Jesse Coolman’s fly ball scored Drayden Grinnell-Dennis, who had tripled to start the inning, then got an unearned run in the sixth to make it 6-1.
Evergreen put together a rally in the seventh off Arend, who had gone the distance to that point. Robertson and Vance singled and moved up when the throw in from the outfield was misplayed.
Chris Shrader laced a hit into the gap to score two runs but when he slid around the tag advancing to second, he was called out in another contested impact call, to squelch the rally.
Manz went the distance for Evergreen on the mound, giving up nine hits and four earned runs. The junior right-hander walked just one and struck out three.
In the nightcap, Fairview scored in every inning off a number of Viking pitchers. Anthony Singer’s two-run single keyed a three-run first.
Arend’s three-run homer was the big blow in a six run third, and the Apaches scored six in the fifth to close out the game.
Shrader’s two-run single in the third was the biggest hit for Evergreen in the second game.
The Vikings travel to Napoleon to close the regular season Monday before hosting Northwood in a Division VI sectional final Saturday May 24.
GAME 1
FHS 100 311 0 – 6 8 0
EHS 000 010 2 – 3 10 4
Records: FHS 19-2, EHS 11-8
WINNING PITCHER: Arend (6.2 innings, 10 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts) Other: J. Shininger
LOSING PITCHER: Manz (7 innings, 8 hits, 6 runs, 4 earned, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts)
LEADING HITTERS: (Fairview) Arend – 2 singles, 2 RBIs; Olinger – double; Grinnell-Dennis – triple, single; (Evergreen) Vance – triple, double; Robertson – 2 singles, 2 runs; Bolger – double, single, RBI; Herdman – 2 singles
GAME 2
FHS 316 16 – 17 20 0
EHS 013 00 – 4 5 1
Records: FHS 20-2, EHS 11-9
WINNING PITCHER: Singer (2 innings, 0 hits, 1 run, 0 earned, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts) Other: King, J. Shininger, Mack
LOSING PITCHER: Manz (2.1 innings, 10 hits, 8 runs, 8 earned, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts) Other: Shrader, Burghardt, Bolger
LEADING HITTERS: (Fairview) Arend – home run, double, single, 3 RBIs, 2 runs; Fritch – double, single, RBI; Mack – 3 singles, 3 RBIs; Palladino – double, 2 singles, RBI, 3 runs; Singer – 2 singles, 3 RBIs; Olinger – single, 2 RBIs; J. Shininger – double; (Evergreen) Shrader – 2 singles, 2 RBIs