jlwordsmith@mchsi.com
MIDDLETOWN >> It was a game that worked itself into three extra innings and was decided by a walk-off home run by Middletown’s Stephen Amos.
Who could ask for anything more?
Amos’ one-out, two-run blast over the 325-foot mark in center in the bottom of the 10th inning propelled the Mustangs to a 5-4 victory on Tuesday afternoon and capped one of the best high school games ever at Wes Martin Field. In fact, one of the best games at Wes Martin Field at any level. There are and will be better teams, but few better games.
Take Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni’s word for it.
“Somebody’s gotta win it and somebody’s gotta lose it,” Polona said. “I told the kids that I have been on the ballfield for 40-plus years and it was a great game. I was excited to be a part of it.”
It was a difficult game with a lot of loops and turns. Middletown starting pitcher Albert Ruske opened the game by retiring the first nine batters. In the fourth, the Knights loaded the bases with no outs but didn’t score.
Almost lost in the shuffle is what the game meant in the mad scramble for second place in the North Central League I standings behind Clear Lake (9-0). The win kept the Mustangs (6-2 in the NCL I) iin sole possession of second place followed by Cloverdale (7-3) and Kelseyville (6-4).
The Knights needed a run in the top of the seventh to send the game into extra innings. Robert McLean obliged by reaching first on an error, moving to second on a wild pitch and scoring on a clutch two-out single by Jafeth Silva.
The reverse was true when the Mustangs came to bat in the bottom of the 10th. They were a run down after Noah Lyndall walked and scored in the top of the 10th to give Kelseyville a 4-3 lead.
McLean would figure in the final outcome in a more dramatic way in the bottom half of the 10th. After the Mustangs’ Tyler Holt reached first on a fielder’s choice, Amos stood in at the plate long enough to see a single pitch from Logan Barrick, which he sent sailing toward center.
McLean faded back and timed his leap just right to catch Amos’ drive, but the ball was jarred loose when he hit the fence and it trickled over the wall.
“Robert had that ball in his glove,” Poloni said. “He went up and got it, but he hit the top of the fence and the ball popped out.”
Amos, a designated hitter who bats clean-up for the Mustangs, was delighted by his first competitive home run for Middletown.
“I was hoping it was gone,” he said.
“He puts it on the football field all the time in practice,” Middletown coach Brad Holt said. “We got about a half-dozen guys who make the porch in left field look real short.”
“Both of their pitchers did an outstanding job,” Poloni said of Ruske, who worked the first six innings, and Holt in relief. “Holt’s got a good fastball and he’s got a good slider. It’s a combination of a lot of things. The key to his pitching is not showing the ball and then he’s got good stuff on top of it.”
Losing pitcher Barrick worked all 9 1/3 innings, striking out four and walking none.
