Fairfield nips rival Westview

By GARY KAUFFMAN

June 03, 2009 09:22 am

— Poets may not write odes to the baseball battle between Westview and Fairfield on Tuesday night, but it was an epic sectional championship game.
The Falcons scratched out a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat the Warriors, 2-1.
Fairfield advances to the 2A regional Saturday at Jimtown where they will play the Lake Station winner at about 12:30 p.m., following a 10 a.m. opener between champions from Boone Grove and Fremont. The championship game is at 7.
The sectional finale featured two of the area's premiere pitchers — Austin Haney, who entered the contest with a 5-0 record for Westview, and Justin Scott who had an 8-2 mark for Fairfield but was undefeated as a starter.
They didn't disappoint the large crowd. Haney fanned eight and allowed just three hits and no walks, while Scott struck out seven, giving up four hits and three walks.
“It was a great effort by Justin,” Falcon coach Brodie Garber said. “At times he was maybe a little wild but sometimes that's what makes him effective because the batters don't know where it's going.”
Westview coach Joel Mishler said, “Justin threw a heck of a good game. He did everything he needed to to beat us. He's definitely one of the better pitchers we've faced, maybe the best."
Haney allowed just three base runners in the second through the fifth innings, one of them reaching on a third strike wild pitch and another on an error.
Freshman second baseman Brad Newcomer drove in both runs for the Falcons.
“I don't know if you can call him a freshman any more because he's played since Game 1,” Garber said. “He showed a lot of composure at the plate.”
Newcomer drove in the winning run in the bottom of the sixth with a ball traveling about 75 feet.
Darin Hochstetler led off the inning with a single down the left field line, only the third hit allowed by Haney. Hochstetler advanced to second on a balk and to third on a groundout by Scott.
Newcomer then fisted a ball down the third base line. Hochstetler immediately broke for the plate. Third baseman Jesse Schrock juggled the ball and by the time he grabbed it, Hochstetler had scored and Newcomer was safe at first.
Westview put the potential tying run on first almost right away in the seventh when Scott hit Steve Blinco with a pitch to bring up the top of the order.
But Scott induced Adam Christner to fly out to center and struck out the next batter. Schrock then hit a comebacker off Scott's glove that trickled off the back of the mound. Scott pounced on it and threw him out for the win.
Both teams manufactured runs in the first inning on just one hit apiece.
Christner led off the game by grounding a single between third and shortstop. Mowery laid down a perfect bunt to advance him to third. When Scott went into the stretch, Christner took off for third. Scott's throw appeared to have a chance to nip him, but it bounced off third baseman Kyle Cross' glove and trickled into leftfield.
That was all the speedy Christner needed to come home with what proved to be Westview's only run.
“That one run worried me,” Scott said. “Austin Haney is a wonderful pitcher and I knew we'd get a lot of strikes.”
In the bottom of the first, Scott belted one of those strikes off the left field fence for a double. He then stole third on his own.
That proved to be a wise decision when Newcomer lifted a fly ball to Christner in center. Scott tagged and easily beat the throw to the plate to knot the contest.
“The key was getting runners to second,” Garber said. Two of the three Falcons to reach second scored. “A lot of the season we didn't have to manufacture runs,” Garber added. “It was nice to see we still could.”
After the first, both pitchers put gooseeggs on the scoreboard for four innings. Scott was aided by two strong defensive plays in the third.
Christner singled up the middle to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a balk. A popup kept him at second, but then Schrock smashed a drive up the middle past Scott's glove. Hochstetler slid over from the shortstop position and smothered the ball, throwing out Schrock and keeping Christner at third.
The next batter, Nic Mishler, then drilled a hard grounder off Newcomer's glove at second. He quickly picked it up and threw out Mishler.
“Those plays were big for me,” Scott said. “You never know how many more pitches I might have had to throw. It saved my arm for later.”
Nic Mishler was hurt on the play, hyperextending a knee as he crossed the bag, and had to leave the game.
“This was a championship game,” Coach Mishler said. “It was well played, well pitched by both sides. My hat's off to Fairfield.”
Westview finishes with a 22-4 season and Mishler credited the hard work of his five seniors.
“They worked with focus,” he said. “They took the young kids by the hand and showed them how to play the game and how to be leaders.”

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