Milford’s Will Schuler, left, starts his slide into home plate while Fayetteville catcher Mason Crone awaits the throw during the first round of the Class A Knothole Baseball playoffs at Finley Ray Park in Milford.
Fayetteville third baseman Blake Jordan, left, leaps to haul in the throw while Noah Gaunce slides safely into third during the first round of the Class A Knothole Baseball playoffs at Finley Ray Park in Milford.
Fayetteville’s Blake Jordan, right, slides into third base as Milford third baseman Trevor Brinkman, front left, reaches for a throw from the catcher, with backup from left-fielder Wilson Larimore, back left, and shortstop Kenny Collins during the first round of the Class A Knothole Baseball playoffs at Finley Ray Park in Milford.
Milford’s Wilson Larimore (44) races down the first-base line as Fayetteville first baseman Toby Brown eyes the ball/throw during the first round of the Class A Knothole Baseball playoffs at Finley Ray Park in Milford.
What started on a rainy Saturday afternoon ended on a sunny Monday evening.
The Milford Machine and Fayetteville Spartans set out to play an East Region Class A (14-year-olds) Knothole Baseball playoff game Saturday, July 8.
But the rains hit Finley Ray Park in Milford about the time the game started and didn’t relent, forcing the suspension of the game with Milford holding a slim 2-1 lead with one out and a runner on third base in the Spartans’ half of the second inning.
The first-round playoff game resumed Monday evening, July 10, and after a rocky beginning to the restart, the Machine ended the day in the same place they started it: on top.
The Spartans kicked off the restart by scoring four runs in the bottom of the second for a 5-2 lead. But the Machine answered with three runs in their first turn batting to tie the score at 5 in the third, then gained the lead for good with a run in the fourth en route to a 16-8 victory.
But in the beginning Monday, it appeared this could be the Spartans’ day. Fayetteville’s first batter, Mason Crone, immediately laced a solid base hit, scoring Landen Stapleton, the runner on third to start Monday, and tying the game at 2. Later in the inning, Scottie Deffrin delivered a line-drive two-run single for a 5-2 Spartan lead after two innings.
The Machine got a quick run back in the top of the third on an errant throw from the catcher to the pitcher for a 5-3 deficit. Andrew Dochterman then dropped a soft fly ball into shallow center to score another run, and Tate Sheldon followed with a liner to left to tie the score at 5.
Pitcher Tyler Bischoff opened the Machine fourth with a solid single to left field. He stole second base, moved to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a wild pick-off attempt for the 6-5 Milford lead.
Meanwhile, Noah Gaunce relieved Bischoff in the third inning and mostly stymied the Spartans the rest of the way.
Milford added three runs in the top of the fifth inning for a 9-5 lead. Fayetteville cut the gap to 9-7 on Stapleton’s two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the fifth, but the Machine answered with five runs in the sixth. Then, after Fayetteville’s Aidan Cartwright opened the bottom of the sixth with a triple en route to scoring a run to cut the deficit to 14-8, Milford put the game away with two runs in the top of the seventh.
Tyler Walls led the Machine with four runs batted in, while Dochterman added three RBI and three runs scored.
For the Spartans, Deffrin and Stapleton each had two RBI and Cartwright had two runs scored.
