Good to seemingly the last pitch, the last swing, the last stretch of tired muscles.
And then there was even more.
The Triton College baseball team is not the Region 4 champion. But it wasn't for lack of trying, going almost beyond conventional diamond ability. In a doubleheader that proved no clock governs baseball and any comeback is possible, the Trojans were edged out by the narrowest of emotional and statistical margins by arch-rival South Suburban College in one of the most memorable days in the history of Symonds-Puckett Field.
Backs against the wall coming into the day, requiring a win in the first game to have any chance at the regional title, the Trojans won a stout-hearted contest 7-5 thanks to the triple-threat talents of outfielder-pitcher
Adam Pottinger.
Forcing the Bulldogs to play and win a second game, both teams played to utter exhaustion in a 12-inning classic in which South Suburban and Triton traded improbable four-run rallies in the 11
th before the visitors pulled it out 9-8 minutes later in the 12
th frame.
If any outcome felt like a win when it wasn't, Saturday's sun-splashed spectacular qualified for Triton. The Trojans had overcome all kinds of setbacks, including injuries, to get into position to force the heavily favored Bulldogs to pull out every stop for their regional title.
Triton finished 24-23 for coach
Harry Torgerson, who had to mix and match lineups and pitching staffs like few other seasons. In spite of the shuffling, four Trojans earned all-Region IV honors: infielders
Camden Karczewski and
Michael Kocen, designated hitter
Matt Flaherty and right-handed pitcher
Peyton Olejnik.
Torgerson got a far-advanced postgraduate course in chess-piece moves against rival coach Steve Ruzich. And after all the moves, including outfielders coming in to pitch, the little bit of good fortune that hangs around every diamond played its deciding role.
Triton put itself in position to stretch everything beyond limits with a gutsy first-game performance by lefty starter
Sebastian Bentz. He survived an incredibly shaky first inning to hold the powerful Bulldogs lineup to four runs through seven innings. Bentz finally tired after 104 pitches, loading the bases with none out in the eighth and Triton leading 7-4.
Michael Moise came in to relief. Another South Suburban run scored on a wild pitch. Torgerson then brought Pottinger, a lefty, in from center field to pitch. He wiggled out of the jam.
The leading Trojans power man, Pottinger slugged his 10
th homer, a three-run shot, off southpaw Keegan Bobbitt to give the Trojans a 6-2 lead in the fourth. An inning earlier, Pottinger displayed his triple-threat skills with a great running catch in center field.
Other first-game Trojan producers were
Antoine Harris with a leadoff homer for his team's final run in the eighth, and
Noah Jouras and
Jerimiah Cangelosi with an RBI single and double, respectively, in the first inning.
But neither team could foresee the wild swings as late-afternoon shadows began to creep across the field in Game 2.
Triton fell behind 4-1 through the fifth, their only run via a
Jack Ryan RBI groundout. The Trojans began cutting into the lead after
Matt Flaherty's homer in the fifth and Karczewski's single in the sixth.
But the memorable narrative began kicking in as the Trojans tied the game in the ninth on Scott Hansen's throwing error with two outs that scored pinch runner
Blake Hickey.
Relative calm prevailed in the 10
th before perhaps the craziest 11
th inning in Triton history kicked off.
The Bulldogs grabbed an 8-4 lead on a disputed hit batsman with the bases loaded, in which Triton argued to no avail that Nicholas Johnstone leaned his forearm into the pitch. Then with two outs and the bases loaded, a Dawson Tanner popup fell along a trio of Triton fielders in right field as all runners scored.
Down and out? Just for a second.
The Trojans put the first three runners got on with no out in their half the 11
th.
Frank Magnelli's single two-run to center cut the South Suburban lead to 8-6. One batter later, Pottinger was hit by a pitch to re-load the bases. After the second out, Kocin blooped a two-run single to right.
Johnny Pecora then came up for his first at-bat of the regional tourney. He hit a shot up the middle for a potential game-winner. But Bulldogs shortstop Donovan Noble made good play to keep the game tied.
Pottinger, called on to pitch again, cast his only negative of the long day with a wild pitch to let in the eventual winning run in the top of the 12
th.
Triton had no more rallies left. Only a wild game in the books and a fighting spirit to end a grueling season.
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(Story by tritonathletics.com contributor George Castle)
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