Title dreams dashed

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The home plate umpire said two words no Tribe fan wanted to hear.
“Strike three.”
Derek Backs walked to the dugout in disbelief.
He and his teammates had to digest what had just happened.
On the other side of the field the Newark Catholic Green Wave found themselves in familiar territory.
They are headed back to the state championship game.
Fort Recovery’s dream season came to a close Thursday, with the Tribe dropping a 4-0 game to seven-time state champion Newark Catholic in the Division IV state semifinal. The Green Wave scored three unearned runs in the fourth inning, and the Indians weren’t able to come up with clutch two-out hits.
Ninth-ranked Newark Catholic advances to the state finals at 1 p.m. Saturday against Berlin Center Western Reserve. The Devils defeated Hicksville 5-2 in the other semifinal game Thursday.
“We thought we would come in and it would be a very competitive game,” said FRHS coach Jerry Kaup, whose second-ranked Indians finish the season at 25-6. “Unfortunately, we made a couple mistakes they were able to capitalize on.
“When we got guys on base — I think we had runners on first and second three out of the first five innings — all we needed was that big two-out hit and we couldn’t get it.
“That’s baseball.”
 Newark Catholic coach John Cannizzaro knows errors are part of the game. He was just fortunate his team didn’t commit any.
“I know from our standpoint you hope it doesn’t happen to yourselves,” said Cannizzaro. “Errors happen, and you hope they don’t happen at the wrong time.”
In the top of the fourth inning, Jack Wollenburg hit a chopper to third base, beating the throw from Nate Locthefeld to give Newark Catholic (22-11) runners at the corners with two outs.
Nick Cavinee then hit a ground ball to shortstop Jacob Homan, who threw across the field for the potential inning-ending out. The throw hit the dirt and FRHS first baseman Cole Wendel wasn’t able to come up with the scoop, allowing the ball to dribble into foul territory as Gabe Morris scored from third.
Zac Walker followed with an RBI single through the right side to give the Green Wave runners at the corners yet again. Fort Recovery pitcher Jackson Hobbs was called for a balk, advancing both runners to give Newark Catholic a 3-0 lead.
The Green Wave tacked on one more run in the sixth inning on a single by Wollenburg and an RBI double to deep left field by Cavinee.
“We respected the pitcher,” Cannizzaro said of Hobbs, who gave up one earned run on seven hits and struck out one. “He was a totally different pitcher than what we saw in regional. He is what I call a finesse pitcher, a spot pitcher. He is very confident in what he is doing.
“I don’t think we really hit him hard. We had a couple big hits at times. That really helped us.”
Still, the Indians had their chances.
They got back-to-back two-out singles from Hobbs and Backs in the first inning, but a strikeout ended the threat. In the third, Mitch Stammen beat out a dribbler to third base and Cole Wendel was hit on the arm by Morris to give the Tribe two on with one out. Morris induced consecutive infield popouts to get out of the jam.
Two innings later, Wendel walked on four straight pitches with two gone and Hobbs tallied his second hit of the game. Once again, Morris got a pop fly to end the threat.
“We wanted to get his pitch count up,” Kaup said of Morris, who recorded the win in six-plus innings, scattering eight hits, walking one and striking out four. “We did a great job the first couple innings. We did what we wanted to do we just couldn’t get that hit when we had to score runs.”
Chasing four runs in the bottom of the seventh, Chase Bruns began the frame with a bloop single to shallow right center field. Following Bruns’ single, Morris had to leave the game with cramping in his throwing hand.
Green Wave reliever Rob Engle walked Stammen to give the Indians runners on first and second yet again, this time with no outs.
Wendel went down on strikes — his fourth strikeout this season in 121 plate appearances — and Hobbs popped out to right field to put the Green Wave one out away from a berth in the title game.
With one out remaining and sea of purple coming to life in the stands down the first base side, Backs stepped in the box with a chance to extend the game.
“We knew we had done it before and we knew we could do it again,” Backs said. “The last inning I thought we had it going.
“Me and (Wendel) don’t strike out. We both did.”
Backs worked a 2-2 count against Engle, whose next pitch caught the inside corner of the plate for a called third strike.
“I’m done,” Backs said, fighting back tears outside the stadium with his teammates, friends and family. “We’re a bunch of scrappy people. We love each other. That’s what makes this thing so hard, because it’s done. It’s over.”
“You’ll see some tears,” Kaup said. “That’s a good thing for me because what that means is we’re sad that we’re going to be losing something that was special. This team was special.
“The thing that is hard to take is the fact that the special group, the special season is now over.”
Yes, the special season is over. But it will never be forgotten.
“For seniors, they’re moving on, but they’re all going to have these memories,” Kaup said, then paused. “They’re all going to have these memories they’re going to keep for a lifetime.”
While the Fort Recovery Indians weren’t able to bring home the program’s first state championship, they did do what no other FRHS team has done since 1953 — reach the state semifinals.
And no one can take that away from them.