Derrick Webb, Managing Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
ATHENS — Tony Taylor has seen a lot of things during his time as Unioto’s head baseball coach.
But he’s never witnessed what he did on Tuesday.
For the first time since 1994, and the first time in Taylor’s head coaching career, Unioto cemented a spot in a regional title game.
Behind a masterful pitching performance from senior KB Perkins and a win-saving catch from right fielder Caden Speakman, the Shermans (23-6) handed London a 1-0 loss in a Division IV regional semifinal.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
31 years is a long time to wait. But that drought is no more.
“These things don’t happen every year,” Unioto coach Tony Taylor said. “It doesn’t happen for most coaches and most teams. They don’t get this far. So we’re just going to enjoy it.”
From the get-go, the game was a pitcher’s duel.
Perkins and London’s Braden Collins, both southpaws, cruised through two innings while combining to strikeout 10 hitters.
The night’s first base hit didn’t take place until the top of the third, which was followed by another with two outs. But Perkins quickly erased both base runners with another strikeout, ending the threat.
Unioto finally broke the scoring seal in the bottom of the fourth.
After a triple into deep right-center field from Keegan Snyder, Perkins helped his own cause with an RBI single that just reached the outfield grass, past the second baseman’s glove.
1-0.
That’s all she wrote.
“If you think that [Snyder] isn’t one of the best catchers in the state, you’re crazy,” Taylor said. “Hitting, behind the plate, his arm, he’s got it all. That’s what seniors do. Our one and two won the game. It’s simple. It’s what it was.”
London (21-8) had two base runners reach in the fifth with one out, but again couldn’t push a run across the plate.
In the sixth, Speakman made his presence known with the catch of his life — and the most notable out of Unioto’s season to date.
With two outs, a single put a runner on first. London’s Carter Blakeway then stepped to the dish and uncorked a hard-hit fly ball into deep right-center field, one that looked like it’d at least tie the game.
But Speakman appeared, seemingly, out of nowhere to make the catch on the run — saving a score and, eventually, preserving the win.
“It was unbelievable,” Taylor said. “I looked in the dugout and said, ‘He’s got it!’ He had the track on it, took a good angle and ran right into it.”
In the seventh, Perkins slammed the door shut.
The senior was visibly working through a cramp in his leg, but induced a groundout and two fly outs, the last of which ended up in Speakman’s gloves, fittingly.
In seven innings of work, Perkins allowed six hits and sat down 10 batters on strikes.
“It just tells you how tough the kid is,” Taylor said. “He’s just a bulldog. He’s got the heart. He’s just special. He was cramping up, he fought through it. A lot of guys, at that point, would’ve given up. He didn’t. It tells you how special he is.”
At the dish, Snyder was 1-for-2 with a hit by pitch, a triple and a run while Perkins finished 1-for-2 with an RBI. Caden Cutright also chipped in, going 1-for-1 with a walk.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
On the opposite side, Collins also went the distance for the Red Raiders, surrendering an earned run on three hits while whiffing 10.
The Shermans now advance to a Division IV regional championship game at 2 p.m., Thursday at Ohio University.
They’ll meet with Indian Creek, a 12-2 winner over Carrollton.
“It has to just all keep coming together,” Taylor said. “We have to swings the bats better than we did tonight. It was the most strikeouts we’ve had all year long. So we’ll have to be better. We have practice tomorrow and we’ll come back here Thursday ready to play.”
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