Carson Francis, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CANTON — Close, but close doesn’t cut it.
South Webster battled its way past Newark Catholic and Strasburg-Franklin in regional play to make it to the program’s first-ever state tournament. The dream season was five outs away from continuing on, too, as the Jeeps held an 8-4 lead over Leipsic with one out in the bottom of the sixth in a Division VII state semifinal.
Unfortunately, however, they just couldn’t put things away.
A six-run bottom of the sixth gave Leipsic a 10-8 lead going into the seventh. And, after the Jeeps tied things back up at 10-10, Leipsic’s John Dewar put South Webster’s season to a devastating end, ripping a walk-off RBI single to send the Vikings to the Division VII state title game on Friday.
“We expected to win this game. We weren’t satisfied to just be here. For whatever reason, we just had some uncharacteristic mistakes today,” Jeeps head coach Ryan McClintic said. “Our pitchers had some issues location-wise and had a hard time finding the zone. But they battled. Give credit to Leipsic. They put the ball in play all day long, and we just didn’t do the little things defensively.”
The Jeeps (21-11) put runners on the corners with one out in the first inning when Brycin McClintic stole second base. But the throw to second got away and rolled into shallow center, allowing Hunter Barnard to score from third.
Then, Easton Large grounded to short and the throw to first was off line, bringing McClintic around to score before Large himself scored on a wild pitch, giving the Jeeps an early 3-0 lead.
But when Leipsic (18-9) broke out its bats, it immediately delivered a counterpunch.
With two outs, Myles Camareno dropped a bloop single into left to bring home a run. John Dewar then scored on a passed ball to allow the Vikings to cut the deficit to 3-2.
After a quiet second inning, South Webster was able to create a slight cushion in the third, though.
The Jeeps again had runners on first and third with one away, with Large at the dish for the second time. This time, the freshman floated a fly ball into right-center for a sacrifice fly RBI, scoring Benaiah Andrews from third and growing the lead by a run.
Their work had only just begun, however, as Brayden Barnard laid down a sacrifice bunt with one out in the top of the fourth, allowing Beau Stephens to come home from third. Then, Hunter Barnard singled to drive in Jaheim Froe, extending the lead to 6-2.
The Vikings had an answer once again, though, as Mill Paniagua fired a triple down the right field line to drive a run home. He then scored himself after a one-out RBI single from Lane Vieira to cut the Jeeps’ lead to 6-4.
Leipsic continued to threaten in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with one out. But Andrews put the Jeeps on his back, striking out the next two batters to retire the side and keep SW’s lead intact.
Andrews not only kept the momentum for his team, but he used it to his own advantage. With one out in the top of the sixth, the senior lined a 1-1 pitch up the middle to drive in a pair of runs, making it an 8-4 South Webster advantage.
And still, Leipsic simply refused to quit.
The Vikings loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the sixth and went to work from there, starting with Colin Niese plating a pair of runs with a single to cut the deficit in half. From there, John Dewar inched Leipsic closer with an RBI double, and Paniagua walked with the bases loaded to knot things up at 8-8.
Then, Julian Zuniga grounded into a fielder’s choice before a SW throwing error brought in two more runs to give Leipsic a 10-8 lead — its first of the day.
“We couldn’t have started better with the way that we played. We play really well with the lead, usually. But in the game of baseball, when you give a team extra outs, it gives them confidence,” McClintic said. “All outs are created equally. If you make an error and give them an extra out, most of the time, they make you pay for it, especially in the state tournament against good opponents.”
But one thing South Webster had done all season was fight, and that was no different down to its final three outs.
Jacob McGraw made it all the way to third with no outs, and Pierce Kreischer drove him in from there with a single. Sam Murphy would later drive in Stephens, who pinch-ran for Kreischer, to tie things back up at 10-10.
Leipsic would deny the Jeeps a chance to take the lead, though, setting up an opportunity to win it in the bottom half.
Sure enough, everything went in the Vikings’ favor with two outs.
Aaron Hazelton reached on a dropped third strike before moving to second on a Niese single, and from there, Dewar sent a 2-1 pitch up the middle to score the winning run and cap off an 11-10 victory over the Jeeps.
“We’re going to be really proud of what we’ve accomplished this year once we step back in the days and weeks to come. This is going to be a memory these guys are going to live with forever,” McClintic said. “Unfortunately, it’s always going to sting a little bit and you’re always going to wonder, ‘What if.’ I had this feeling as a player in the state tournament, losing on a buzzer-beater, and this kind of feels like the same thing. But time heals all wounds, and they’ll be happy with what they achieved this year.”
Leipsic will move on to Saturday’s Division VII state championship game against Delphos St. John’s, a 5-3 winner over Tiffin Calvert. That matchup will take place at 7 17 Credit Union Park in Akron, with first pitch coming at 4 p.m.
South Webster closes out the season with a district title and the first regional title in program history. The Jeeps will say their goodbyes to seven seniors — Hunter Barnard, Malakhi Rozell, Jacob McGraw, Benaiah Andrews, Brycin McClintic, Beau Stephens and Sam Murphy.
“It’s hard to describe what those seven guys mean to the program, both now and what they’ve done in the program that’s going to last for a long time,” McClintic said. “The standard is high. We coach hearts, not talents. Those guys that have been here have set the blueprint for what you’ve got to do at South Webster High School and in Southern Ohio to get to this point.”
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