Madonna’s season ends with 3-1 loss to Cameron

WEIRTON -- A defensive gem helped Cameron avoid elimination Tuesday in W.Va. Class A Region I, Section I baseball tournament action on cloud-covered Edwin J. Bowman Field.

With the third-seeded Dragons (21-8) clinging to a 3-1 lead against No. 2 Madonna in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Blue Dons had runners on first and third with no outs. However, a sharp one-hopper that Cameron third baseman Hunter Evans made a backhanded stab of resulted in a rally-killer as Evans alertly tagged the Blue Don runner off of third before pegging a strike to first baseman Coy Angel to complete the double play. The next batter flew out to center.

"We were in a bind," Cameron head coach Adam Angel admitted. "Hunter had great awareness to tag the runner and then throw to first for the double play. He does a good job."

Madonna first-year head coach T.J. Miller agreed that the web gem changed the tone of the game.

"That play gave them a lot of momentum. It was a hard-hit ground ball that left our baserunner in no-man's land. There was nothing he could've done there. It was bang-bang.

"Hats off to Cameron. They played a good game. I give them all the credit and wish them all the luck," Miller added. "I'm proud of my guys, though."

Madonna would never threaten again as Cameron held on for the 3-1 nod to avoid elimination for the third consecutive outing. The Dragons reward is a meeting with top-seeded Wheeling Central today at 5 on the Wheeling University diamond at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Ballfields Complex. Cameron has to win twice in order to claim the sectional title. A second game, if necessary, would also be played at I-470 on Thursday, also at 5.

The victory was doubly sweet as it was the 80th career triumph for the senior class.

"That was a big win ... a huge win," Coach Angel said. "These kids have won a lot at Cameron during their careers. They've won OVACs in football. They've won OVACs in basketball and they've won OVACs in baseball."

"I challenged them after we lost to Madonna earlier in the (double elimination) tournament," Angel noted. "We are playing really good baseball right now. We've cleaned up our defense. Our pitchers are being aggressive on the mound and throwing strikes early in the count."

Cameron took a 1-0 lead in first at-bat as Kasun Angel was hit with the first pitch of the game. With one out, Hartley executed a hit-and-run to perfection by lining a laser to the gap in left-center as Angel raced around the bases.

The lead became 2-0 in the second when courtesy runner Ike Yoho, who was running for catcher Preston Hartley who was hit-by-a-pitch leading off, sprinted home on the back-end of a double steal as courtesy runner Soier Reed stole second. Colson Wichterman lined a single through the left side of the infield as Reed rounded third and headed for home. However, a strong throw from the left fielder T.J. Decapio was just in time to cut down the runner.

Lance Hartley opened the third with his third hit of the game, a single to center. Coy Angel doubled to the corner in left as Hartley pulled into third. Zayde Long's grounder to second allowed Hartley to score, making it 3-0.

"We got a run in the first, second and third but I wished we could've gotten more," Coach Angel added. "We had some chances but we couldn't get the runners over. We did a good job early of manufacturing runs."

Madonna's run came one batter before the game-changing double play as Liam Nagy drilled a single through the left side of the infield to chase home courtesy runner Reed Wilharm.

"I love these seniors. This was my first year here and I had an exceptional senior group," Miller praised. "My motto has always been 'if I've coached you I'm in your corner for life."

Kasun Angel turned in a gut-check effort on the mound. The Cameron senior struck out six, walked five and gave up five hits - all singles. He threw exactly 100 pitches, but only 52 went for strikes.

"Our coaching staff met with our four top pitchers on Sunday and discussed how we wanted to address our pitching situation moving forward and they all came to the conclusion to throw Kasun today," Coach Angel continued. "We didn't know how many pitches he would be able to throw 50, 60, 70 ... . He was cruising there for a while, but I told him before the sixth inning that he was on a short leash.

"He did what we needed him to do," Coach Angel said of his youngest son. "When he wasn't throwing strikes, he got them to hit the ball to one of his teammates. We played really good defense."

The short leash was finally yanked with Blue Dons occupying first and second with two out. In came Potomac State recruit Lance Hartley and the 6-6 righty struck out the first batter he faced to douse the rally. Then, after walking the leadoff batter in the bottom of the seventh, Hartley struck out the next batter; got a fly ball to deep center; and a game-ending liner to Coy Angel at first.

"Lance looked like he was throwing 105 (miles per hour)," Coach Angel said with a smile.

"Wheeling Central is very, very good," Coach Angel said of the next opponent. "They are one of the better teams in the state. They are going to be tough but we're going to give it a go and see what happens."

W.Va. Class A Region I, Section I

(Elimination Game)

Cameron 3, Madonna 1

Cameron 111 000 0 - 3 6 0

Madonna 000 010 0 - 1 5 1

C--K. Angel wp (6K, 5BB), L. Hartley sv (6), (2K, 1BB) and P. Hartley; L. Hartley 2S, D, rbi; C. Angel S, D; Wichterman S, rbi; Long rbi

M--Fedak lp (4K, 3BB), Geer (4), (2K, 1BB) and Wells; Nagy S, rbi