POTOMAC PARK — Garrett County Submit 71/208/204 head coach Phil Carr and St. Mary’s Submit 255 skipper Steve Zumpano have made a behavior of staging their reunions in championship video games.
The final time the Northern graduates and former Frostburg State roommates met on the diamond, their respective squads have been enjoying in Funkstown for the American Legion state title. St. Mary’s would go on to win states, take the area and attain the World Sequence.
This time, the Western Maryland Appalachian Mountain Traditional crown was at stake, and as soon as once more, Zumpano’s workforce had the sting. St. Mary’s used a seven-run fourth inning to rout Garrett, 13-5, on Sunday.
“At this level you’re operating on fumes,” Carr mentioned. “Give them credit score. They hit the ball. Tanner (Haskiell) was pounding the strike zone, however they hit the ball. … That they had a pair massive two-out hits.
“(Zumpano) says he’s 0-4 in his league, and he’s like, ‘We’re in all probability going to come back up right here and never be excellent.’ And now he wins the factor.”
Garrett County entered the ultimate recreation 3-1 within the match after getting revenge towards Berkeley Submit 14, 14-10, within the semifinals. St. Mary’s didn’t drop a recreation all weekend, defeating Bedford Submit 113 within the Remaining 4 to race into the title bout 4-0.
It isn’t the identical St. Mary’s workforce that received the Mid-Atlantic Area title in Asheboro, North Carolina, and went 2-1 on the World Sequence in Shelby, however they will nonetheless swing it.
With only one returning participant on the roster, St. Mary’s racked up 13 hits, right-handed pitcher Gabe Moltumyr threw 4 stable innings and Caleb Bean tossed two scoreless to offer Submit 255 the title.
“For me, this can be a homecoming to come back up right here, and find yourself enjoying Phil once more after enjoying him in states,” Zumpano mentioned. “Baseball karma is type of a humorous factor typically. I wouldn’t have dreamed that we’d be within the finals once more enjoying one another, particularly after the beginning we had.”
It was back-and-forth on the onset.
Haskiell bought himself some run help with a two-out RBI aptitude within the first, and St. Mary’s responded with a two-spot within the backside half.
Garrett regained the lead with three runs within the second — Easton Rhoten knocked in a pair and Jamison Warnick plated one — however once more, St. Mary’s retook the sting with 4 runs within the backside half.
Andrew Peed crushed a two-out, bases-clearing triple for St. Mary’s through the second-inning blitz.
After Garrett trimmed the deficit to 6-5 with one other RBI base knock by Haskiell, St. Mary’s blew the sport open for good with a seven-run body within the fourth inning — all seven runs have been with two outs.
From there, Garrett couldn’t wage a response and completed the match in second place.
“Phil does such a brilliant job, anytime you play towards his workforce they’re going to be a well-coached group of men,” Zumpano mentioned. “They’ve nice gamers: Zach Hallenbeck, Likelihood Ritchey, Will Moon. They’re only a nice workforce.
“It’s simply a type of weekends the place you get on a roll. We’re lacking about 5 starters, and we simply had guys step up. Subsequent man up type of mentality. That is the perfect recreation, so far as hitting-wise, we’ve placed on. We’ve been struggling this yr as much as this match.”
Warnick led the Garrett line-up batting 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored. Haskiell drove in a pair on a pair of singles, and Rhoten tallied two RBIs on a two-bagger.
Moltumyr, Peed and Hunter Lee all had multi-hit video games for St. Mary’s.
Up subsequent, Garrett County turns to a league recreation towards Fort Cumberland Submit 14 on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Garrett School. The 2 Western Maryland squads are 1-1 towards every one other this yr.
“It was a great match for us,” Carr mentioned. “All our guys are right here. We’ve bought so many younger guys on the workforce, and loads of them bought to contribute not directly.”