Nearly a miracle (05/19/07)

COLDWATER, Ohio - Knees knocking.

Brow sweating.

Heart beating wildly.

The Wildcats experienced it all. And that was after they had a 7-0 lead with just a half-inning to play.

Fort Recovery put together a storybook comeback, rallying with six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Tribe had the tying run on second and the winning run at the plate, but fell short as the Division IV No. 1 Minster Wildcats held on for a 7-6 win Friday evening in the district championship game at Coldwater.

"It says a lot about my guys' intestinal fortitude to just go out there and play hard and just give their all all the time," said FRHS coach Aaron Vaughn. "When it comes to tournament my guys' just always seem like they're ready to play ...

"This is tough for anyone to take because they want to win as much as I do. But I told them, 'You've got to be proud of yourselves and keep your heads up.' That's the truth about these guys. They did not give up.

"They could have just wilted down 7-0, but we made it 7-6 with a chance to get a base hit to tie it up or a home run to win it in the bottom of the seventh. You can't give them enough credit for how they did it and how hard they play and how bad they wanted it."

In the stunning seventh inning it came down to senior Curt Heitkamp at the plate with classmate Troy Metzger standing on second base and representing the winning run. Jimmy Stechschulte, on in relief of Allan Heitbrink, got an 0-2 count on Heitkamp to heighten the drama.

But Heitkamp rarely strikes out, and he lunged at an outside pitch and put it in play on the right side. He nearly beat out the slow roller, but Minster second baseman Zac Boeke was able to gather it in and toss to first baseman and Midwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year Bob Inskeep just in time for the final out.

"Right before the inning we said, 'No matter what happens, we're never going to give up,'" said Vaughn. "That's been our motto all year. ... We got some help from the lights a little bit ... Curt put the ball in play there at the end and we had a chance. It's a game of inches."

Heitkamp started the rally with an infield single to open the inning, and senior Tony Diller followed with a single to left field. Kevin Schoenherr hit what looked like a double play ball to Boeke, but Diller came sliding in hard and the ball ended up on the dirt allowing Schoenherr to reach safely and Heitkamp to score.

Scott Hein made it four straight Indians to reach base with a hopper that bounced off the bag at third. Heitbrink gathered himself to get back-to-back outs - the second by Frank Thien drove in a run - but the Tribe was not about to go away.

With the Indians down to their final out, Clint Tobe delivered a two-run single to left field to make the score 7-3. Toby Metzger made things interesting when he reached on a error by Minster third baseman Dan Mueller, which also allowed Hein to score.

The error left Tobe on third, Metzger on first and Troy Metzger at the plate as the tying run. He hit what seemed to be a routine fly ball to left field, but Alyx Brandewie lost sight of it in the lights.

The ball landed cleanly and rolled to the fence for a two-run double. But the near-miraculous comeback halted there as Stechschulte managed to retire the only batter he faced to save the game for Minster (23-1).

"He threw three strikes," said Wildcat coach Mike Wiss of his reliever. "Now what kind of guts does that take? Jimmy knew he was the first guy we were coming to. To be able to throw three pitches like that to get us a save in a crucial situation (was huge)."

Before the insanity of the final half-inning, the crucial stretch of the game was the bottom of the second and top of the third frames.

Fort Recovery (12-11) had two on and one out in the bottom of the second, then loaded the bases on the first of Hein's two infield singles. But, it could not push any runs across.

The Wildcats started their ensuing at bat with five consecutive hits, the key being a two-run triple by Dan Mueller. They scored four runs in the inning and added another in the fourth and two in the sixth, which turned out to be just enough.

Minster's three through six batters went hitless against Schoenherr, but the bottom of the order came up big in the key inning.

"Seven, eight and nine were very good tonight," said Wiss. "I have to give him that. ... They had important timely hits. Those guys can run a little bit too, which makes it nice."

Schoenherr took the defeat, ending Fort Recovery's best tournament run since 2001. He allowed six runs on six hits in five-plus innings of work.

Clint Tobe led the Tribe offense with a single, a run and two RBIs. Hein and Rammel each had two hits, and Troy Metzger matched Tobe by driving in two runs.

It was also the final game at the helm for Vaughn, who is moving back to the Akron, Ohio, area. The four-year Tribe coach called his team 'special,' and said his eight seniors were the best group he has ever been around.

"In 10 years it's been the most fun group," Vaughn said. "They're just a special group of kids. They hang out together ... they just know each other so well. They just have a great camaraderie and they just get along. ... I think all of them would run in front of a car for the other one, and that's the kind of team chemistry you need.

"My guys fought hard and I'm so proud of them. It's a group of kids that I'll never forget."[[In-content Ad]]