Plant walks off semifinal win in extra innings
With the throw taking Steinbrenner catcher James Alikbarian up the third-base line, Plant’s Jackson Kravitz slides in safely on Gio Benitez’s single with the district semifinal-winning run.
By Chuck Frye, Senior Staff Writer
TAMPA – The hex continues, but it took a heck of an effort to make that happen.
In a Class 6A-District 10 battle royal Tuesday night, third seeded Steinbrenner used Coby Moesching’s bat and arm to try and stay a step ahead of a persistent Plant squad. Taking, and losing a pair of leads didn’t faze the visiting Warriors, who fought back to force extra innings, but the No. 2 Panthers rode the momentum of a four-star catch to grind out an entertaining 6-5 victory.
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Battling for its sixth-straight victory head-to-head over Steinbrenner, Plant (14-11) will next travel to take on top-seeded Gaither, a 15-5 victor over No. 4 Armwood, for a district title and a certain berth in regions on Thursday.
With Ty Ciccarello (18) peeling out of the way, Panthers shortstop Gio Benitez throws to first to complete a first-inning double play.
Shaking off Jordan Olivia’s solo homer, Urban Ellis’ second double of the contest, and Gio Benitez’s run-scoring single that gave the hosts a sixth-inning lead, the Warriors (10-15) used Will Hoblitzell’s leadoff base hit and Moesching’s third hit of the night, a double down the leftfield line, to set the stage for a Ty Ciccarello sacrifice fly that deadlocked the game once again.
Plant’s Wyatt Patterson avoids the tag of lunging catcher James Alikbarian to score a second-inning run.
In the top of the eighth, Steinbrenner had pinch hitter Noah Corps on second after a two-out walk and a balk when Hoblitzell (two hits, two runs scored) looked to extend his hot hitting by drilling a shot deep toward the leftfield foul pole. But Plant senior Desan DeCamp made a deft sprint to where he thought the ball would land before launching himself to make a highlight-reel diving grab to end the inning.
Leftfielder Desan DeCamp (3, middle) is greeted by his jubilant teammates after his diving eighth-inning catch set the stage for Plant’s walk-off victory.
The burst of momentum from the catch was all the top of the Panthers’ order needed to clinch the victory starting with Olivia’s fourth hit of the game, a one-out double down the rightfield line. After an intentional walk to Ellis, Benitez came through once again with a base hit up the middle that sent courtesy runner Jackson Kravitz to the plate and a jubilant bunch of Panthers surging to the field to celebrate.
“Me and Coach (Dennis) Braun, we put up a good mindset,” Benitez said of his cool handling of pressure-packed situations. “The pitcher (Moesching) was throwing a lot of sliders and I was trying to eliminate it. I saw another slider, it was a little low but I committed to it, I swung hard and I got a good part of it. We did our job.”
As an errant throw sails past catcher Bryce Moe, junior Logan Cucchi slides home to score a fourth-inning run.
On his part of the 14-hit attack, Olivia humbly said: “I just try to stay patient and stay within myself.”
“I like to think our schedule (had something to do with the win),” said Braun of an intentionally rugged, character-building campaign. “We played a lot of one-run games and we didn’t win a few of them (three of four leading into Tuesday). You’re not going to win them all but baseball has a way … if you can get back to 50-percent – and we’re below that – we’ll get some of them back.”
But it took a championship-level boxing match of punching and counter-punching to get the Panthers within a game of evening the score and more opportunities to do so.
Steinbrenner head coach Chenzo Scanio low-fives junior Coby Moesching after his first-inning solo home run opens the game’s scoring. Moesching added a single and double in the extra-inning battle won by host Plant.
After Moesching pounded a solo homer over the left-centerfield fence in the bottom of the first, Plant answered in the second when DH Wyatt Patterson’s single scored DeCamp (double) before scoring himself on an Olivia base hit.
Ellis’ first two-bagger delivered Logan Cucchi and doubled the lead in the fourth, but Steinbrenner didn’t flinch, even when superb bunt defense erased Gabe Ortiz’s double to lead off the fifth.
Steinbrenner junior Will Hoblitzell gets emotional as he crosses the plate with the game-tying run in the fifth inning.
Back-to-back singles from Hoblitzell and Moesching loaded the bases for Gavin Mix, and the junior delivered an RBI sacrifice fly. Ciccarello followed with his second hit of the game to plate Hoblitzell, while a smartly-executed double steal brought in courtesy runner Corps, gave the Warriors their lead back, and set the stage for a thriller of a finish.
“I told my coaches we did everything right on our bunt defense (thwarting three sacrifice bunt attempts in all) and (the Warriors) scored three runs,” Braun said with a chuckle. “What I kept telling our guys was we’ve done everything right, we’re in this game, just keep grinding. If we kept doing our jobs, we could pull this out and, fortunately, we did.”
Gio Benitez (26) and Urban Ellis (19) welcome Jordan Olivia at the plate after his sixth-inning solo homer.
“This group’s been resilient,” said Steinbrenner head coach Chenzo Scanio. “What they’ve gone through on and off the field, no team should have to go through, but … they don’t complain, they come to the park every day thinking they had a chance to win. We fell short (Tuesday), we fell short a lot this year and we’ve got to get better late in games. We bring back a lot of guys next year (18 in all) and, hopefully, that’s something we can work on.”
Plant head coach Dennis Braun (third from left) points out part of his field’s ground rules to Steinbrenner counterpart Chenzo Scanio (left) and the umpiring crew.
⚾ Class 6A-District 10 Semifinal ⚾
Plant 6
Steinbrenner 5 – eight innings
S 100|030|10 – |5|10|0
P 020|102|01 – |6|14|0
W – Keller (6-0); L – Moesching
2B – Moesching, Mix, Ortiz (S); Ellis 2, DeCamp, Olivia, Dixson (P); HR – Moesching (S); Olivia (P). Records – S (10-15); P (14-11).
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Plant starting pitcher Nick Townley battled through 4 2/3 innings in Tuesday’s district semifinal, yielding four runs on eight hits while striking out three.
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A determined Coby Moesching is greeted by his teammates after his home run gave Steinbrenner an early lead.
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Warriors opener Jordan Anstett worked 1 2/3 innings of four-hit, two-run ball before handing mound duties over to junior Coby Moesching.
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As Steinbrenner catcher James Alikbarian awaits the throw from the outfield, senior Desan DeCamp crosses the plate in the second inning with Plant’s first run of the night.
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In addition to coming within a triple of the cycle offensively, junior Coby Moesching pitched the final 5 2/3 innings of an extra-inning playoff battle against Plant.
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With a sliding Gio Benitez looking on, Steinbrenner shortstop Beaux Livingston tries to turn a third-inning double play but batter Rhett Dixson beat the throw.
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Coby Moesching looks to relax during a third-inning timeout.
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Plant head coach Dennis Braun fist-bumps Urban Ellis after the senior reached third in fourth-inning action.
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A beaming Gabe Ortiz gestures to his Steinbrenner teammates after his double to lead off the fifth inning.
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Ty Ciccarello went 2-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly, driving in a pair of runs.
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Evan Juan (22) helps the plate umpire by signaling teammate courtesy runner Noah Corps safe to cap Steinbrenner’s three-run fifth inning.
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Warriors first baseman Evan Juan celebrates turning a solo double play to stop Plant’s fifth-inning scoring threat.
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Coby Moesching was rolling nothing but 7’s, adding a seventh-inning double to his three-hit effort.
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Circumstances dictated that lefty Coy Keller — targeted to start a Thursday district final — take the mound in the seventh to help get Plant there.
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Jordan Olivia gestures to his bench after his fourth hit of the night, an eighth-inning double.
