Athens falls to Jersey Shore 10-5 in D4 AAA semi-finals.
By: Bill Albright | Towanda Daily Review | May 23, 2015
2015 NTL and District 4 News
WILLIAMSPORT - Entering the 2015 District IV Class AAA baseball tournament as the top seed, the Athens Wildcats had hopes of replacing Jersey Shore as the district champion.
However, it wasn't to be as in their first district outing the Wildcats fell to the four-time defending champion Friday night by the score of 10-5 under the lights at Bowman Field.
"It is always nice to get here because this is a good venue," said Athens head coach Brendan Hitchcock. "We certainly didn't have our best night, but we clawed and we fought. Realistically through five innings it was a 6-5 ball game and anybody's ball game to win. It wasn't by any means what we expected, but with that said, I thought we demonstrated a lot of heart by scrapping just to keep ourselves in it."
Any way you look at it, it wasn't a good night for pitching and defense as the two teams combined to issue 18 walks, commit seven errors and 15 runs.
Sam Perri got the call to start on the bump for the 'Cats, but the lefty just didn't have his good stuff. Tyler Forbes came on in relief and for the most part, did a nice job of keeping the Shore bats under wraps until they got to him in the sixth for the final four runs to set the final.
"We (the Athens coaches) are still trying to figure out how that (all the walks) took place," said Hitchcock. "It was that way on both sides (Shore pitchers issued eight walks) and the last time our staff checked, we were only averaging giving up about 2.5 walks per game. We are used to putting the ball in the (strike) zone and making teams beat us but tonight, that wasn't the story."
Situational hitting can many times make the difference in winning or losing a ball game, and for the Wildcats, the lack of that part of their offense was a big thorn in their sides.
"We just didn't get the big hits when we had some chances," said Hitchcock. "They definitely outhit us (10 to 5) and you have to tip your hats to them for doing that. If we could have only found a way to poke one in there with a few guys on base, it might have been a different ball game. But that is baseball and that is why it is the game it is."
"It wasn't pretty, but it was a big win for us," said Shore head coach Steve Waldman. "The kids battled hard and every time they (Athens) would come back at us, they (Shore players) didn't let it bother them."
With the win, the Bulldogs will now face Shikellamy, a 3-0 winner over Mifflinburg in the other semifinal Friday afternoon. During the regular season, the Bulldogs went 0-2 against Shik, coming out on the short end of 2-1 and 4-3 finals in their battles with the Braves.
With the loss, the Wildcats finish at 16-4, and for the group of seniors, it was a bittersweet finish to an otherwise outstanding season.
"I just told the team a few minutes ago that I am very proud of those guys," said Hitchcock. "I have been here for two years now and I hope it was a good experience for them with the new coaching staff. There are going to be some tough shoes to fill because this team had a lot of talented athletes on it with a lot of heart. Not only are they good athletes, but they are people with good character and that is the part you hate to see go as a coach. We wish them well and hopefully they'll stop back and see us."
