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ORWELL — At the beginning of the season, Zach Sirrine and the Grand Valley Mustangs knew they had the kind of baseball team which could advance to a district title game.
In the second inning of Wednesday’s Divsion VI, Northeast 2 district semifinal game against Smithville, they all but proved it.
GV sent eight batters to the plate in the second inning, and five came around to score, to defeat the Smithies 6-3.
Payton Plizga took it from there, throwing a complete game as the Mustangs improved to 17-5 and advanced to a district final against Hartville Lake Center Christian at 5 p.m. Friday at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium in Canton.
GV, which is the seventh seed in the sectional-district, is making its first district final appearance since 2018.
Lake Center Christian, the top seed, blanked Mogadore 10-0 in six innings for its district semifinal win Wednesday.
Plizga said his team had a lot of confidence going into the game, but scoring five runs early certainly helped ease any butterflies a postseason contest can bring.
“Oh yeah, that helped a lot,” the senior said. “Knowing my guys had my back, getting me some run support and then I could do my thing on the mound.”
Plizga allowed just one earned run on seven hits while striking out nine.
He also started a double play with runners on first and third in the fifth inning that greatly reduced any chance the Smithies had of rallying back.
The story of the game, though, was GV’s bats in the second frame.
Ryan Began and Easton Wilkinson started the second inning by drawing walks, then Cooper Plizga doubled a run home.
Trenton Murduck and Peyton Plizga each had singles and Carl Krieg added an RBI sacrifice fly to complete the outburst.
Sirrine said his team had a pretty good scouting report on Smithville’s starting pitcher Brayden Beard, and executed the game plan just as he had hoped.
“We talked about getting ahead early, throwing the first punch,” Sirrine said. “We knew he had good stuff, he was about 50-50 with his fastball and breaking ball.
“He didn’t throw superhard, so we wanted to jump on his fastball. We felt pretty good going in, and the guys executed for sure.”
The Smithies battled back with a run in the third inning, then had an opportunity in the fifth with runners at the corners and one out.
Plizga, however, got a bouncer hit right back at him. He fired to his brother, Cooper, covering second, who threw to Parker Zupancic at first for the double play to end the inning.
The safer play may have been to look the runner back and take just the sure out at first, but Payton Plizga said there was no doubt in his mind where he was going with the baseball.
“I knew what I was doing as soon as I got the ball,’ he said. “I knew we could turn it, and it was a great play for us.”
After GV scored a run in the bottom of the fifth inning, Smithville tallied an unearned run in the sixth.
The Mustangs infield also mishandled what could have potentially been a couple of double-play chances, settling for just one out instead.
But once again, Plizga shrugged off the imperfections and got the outs he needed.
“I always have trust in my teammates, especially my middle infielders,” he said. “I trust every single one of them. I they make an error, I know they’re not going to make it again.”
Sirrine said his team has been able to overcome adversity during games.
“We’ve been resilient all season long,” the coach said. “We’ve struggled in the field from time to time. We’ve made errors, but our pitcher, our guys in the field, they’ve done a great job of letting go and getting the next ball.”
When GV takes the field Friday, like his players, Sirrine said it’s right where they expected to be.
“We always knew we had a team capable of it,” he said. “We knew we had the guys, we knew we had the experience coming back, so yeah, it was definitely a goal of ours.”
Continue reading...
In the second inning of Wednesday’s Divsion VI, Northeast 2 district semifinal game against Smithville, they all but proved it.
GV sent eight batters to the plate in the second inning, and five came around to score, to defeat the Smithies 6-3.
Payton Plizga took it from there, throwing a complete game as the Mustangs improved to 17-5 and advanced to a district final against Hartville Lake Center Christian at 5 p.m. Friday at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium in Canton.
GV, which is the seventh seed in the sectional-district, is making its first district final appearance since 2018.
Lake Center Christian, the top seed, blanked Mogadore 10-0 in six innings for its district semifinal win Wednesday.
Plizga said his team had a lot of confidence going into the game, but scoring five runs early certainly helped ease any butterflies a postseason contest can bring.
“Oh yeah, that helped a lot,” the senior said. “Knowing my guys had my back, getting me some run support and then I could do my thing on the mound.”
Plizga allowed just one earned run on seven hits while striking out nine.
He also started a double play with runners on first and third in the fifth inning that greatly reduced any chance the Smithies had of rallying back.
The story of the game, though, was GV’s bats in the second frame.
Ryan Began and Easton Wilkinson started the second inning by drawing walks, then Cooper Plizga doubled a run home.
Trenton Murduck and Peyton Plizga each had singles and Carl Krieg added an RBI sacrifice fly to complete the outburst.
Sirrine said his team had a pretty good scouting report on Smithville’s starting pitcher Brayden Beard, and executed the game plan just as he had hoped.
“We talked about getting ahead early, throwing the first punch,” Sirrine said. “We knew he had good stuff, he was about 50-50 with his fastball and breaking ball.
“He didn’t throw superhard, so we wanted to jump on his fastball. We felt pretty good going in, and the guys executed for sure.”
The Smithies battled back with a run in the third inning, then had an opportunity in the fifth with runners at the corners and one out.
Plizga, however, got a bouncer hit right back at him. He fired to his brother, Cooper, covering second, who threw to Parker Zupancic at first for the double play to end the inning.
The safer play may have been to look the runner back and take just the sure out at first, but Payton Plizga said there was no doubt in his mind where he was going with the baseball.
“I knew what I was doing as soon as I got the ball,’ he said. “I knew we could turn it, and it was a great play for us.”
After GV scored a run in the bottom of the fifth inning, Smithville tallied an unearned run in the sixth.
The Mustangs infield also mishandled what could have potentially been a couple of double-play chances, settling for just one out instead.
But once again, Plizga shrugged off the imperfections and got the outs he needed.
“I always have trust in my teammates, especially my middle infielders,” he said. “I trust every single one of them. I they make an error, I know they’re not going to make it again.”
Sirrine said his team has been able to overcome adversity during games.
“We’ve been resilient all season long,” the coach said. “We’ve struggled in the field from time to time. We’ve made errors, but our pitcher, our guys in the field, they’ve done a great job of letting go and getting the next ball.”
When GV takes the field Friday, like his players, Sirrine said it’s right where they expected to be.
“We always knew we had a team capable of it,” he said. “We knew we had the guys, we knew we had the experience coming back, so yeah, it was definitely a goal of ours.”
Continue reading...
