Team effort puts Hillsboro in District 7 championship game

      CHILLICOTHE — Before the Hillsboro Post 129 ball club took the field Friday night, head coach Ritchie Butler told his team to play as one.

      Well, his team responded with their third win in a row, second straight in District 7 tournament play, defeating Chillicothe Post 62, 8-2 in nine innings at VA Memorial Stadium.

      The win puts Hillsboro in the championship final, with three teams remaining in the tournament, and will face the winner of Post 62 and Circleville Post 134 Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

    Post 62 and Post 134 will play Saturday morning at 9 a.m. Both games will be played at VA Memorial.

      If Hillsboro wins Saturday, they will go to the state tournament in Lancaster.

      "This is the third game in a row we delivered on playing as a team," Butler said. "We had a couple of sketchy innings early, but we came back strong."

      Post 129 not only used their second straight solid pitching performance in tournament play but took advantage of six Post 62 errors, scoring a majority of their runs in the first four innings.

      Hillsboro led 7-0 after four innings.

      McClain graduate Logan Wise out-smarted his Post 62 opponent by using his defense, along with six strikeouts, to record the win for Post 129.

      Wise pitched a total of eight innings, allowing two runs (two earned) on seven hits and three walks. Wise pitched out of some tough situations, as Post 62 left 10 runners on the bases during Wise's time on the hill. Both teams left a grand total of 11 batters each on the bases.

      "Logan pitched a good game," Butler said. "He used his defense, and everyone in the field was involved with this win. It was just a good team win.

      "Logan just seemed to work well with runners on."

      Of the 21 outs recorded by Chillicothe via ground out/fielders choice or fly ball, 16 came in the infield.

      In two tournament games, the Hillsboro starting pitchers have gone a combined 15 2-3 innings of the 18 played. On Wednesday, Tucker Hughes went 7 2-3 innings on the hill for Post 129 against Chillicothe Post 757.

      On Friday, Butler touched on how the starting pitching has performed.

      "With the innings our starters have went for us, it definitely helps our pitching situation," he said. "We didn't leave our two guys in the games for that long because we needed to, we left them in that long because we wanted to."

      Hillsboro (18-15) used a mixture of offense and taking advantage of Post 62 miscues to gain a four-run lead after two innings.

      Wise started the bottom part of the first inning by taking first base on an error. Brandon Arehart followed with a five-pitch walk. The first run of the game came via base hit through the middle of the infield by Airic Steagall to score Wise. The second Post 129 run crossed home plate as Steagall beat the throw to second on a steal attempt, with Arehart sprinting home on the throw to second.

      The second inning produced two more runs for the Hillsboro club.

      Corey Walker began the inning with a five-pitch walk, followed with a bunt single by Matt Kibler, who slid into first base for the safe call. Ian Adams reached first on a sacrifice bunt attempt with an error by the shortstop. After the first out, Arehart singled to shallow left field to score Walker with the bases loaded. With two outs, Zach Uhl walked, with the bases still jammed, scoring Kibler from third base.

      Hillsboro added three runs in the bottom of the fourth for the aforementioned seven-run lead.

      Wise reached with an infield single and Arehart walked. Steagall moved the runners over with a sacrifice bunt. Uhl scored Wise with a sacrifice fly to right field for a 5-0 lead. Cody Shaver walked, and Brett Carrington was hit by a pitch to load the bases. With two outs, Walker hit an infield single, with a 2-1 count, to score both Arehart and Shaver. In the game, Arehart forced three walks. Shaver drew two walks.

      The final Post 129 run came in the eighth inning with Wise again leading off the inning by taking first base, this time via hit by pitch. He took second on a wild pitch and third on a passed ball. He crossed home plate on a bases loaded, two-out walk forced by Brett Carrington.

      "Again, we just got some key hits," Butler said of his Post 129 team. "Our three-hole hitters moved runners over into scoring position, and it was just a solid team effort."

      Post 62 scored their runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

      In the fifth, Nick Rose, who led off the top half of the fifth with a walk, scored on a two-out single through the middle of the infield by Jordan Wonderleigh. In the sixth, Hunter Justus tripled to deep centerfield and rounded third to home plate on a single to left field by John Penn.

      Through six innings, Post 62 stranded eight runners.

      Jacob Dillon pitched the ninth inning for Post 129. Dillon allowed one hit and recorded one strikeout.

      The win lifts Post 129 to an overall summer record of 18-15 and a tournament record of 2-0. 

NOTES: Hillsboro went 6-for-30 at the plate Friday … The 1-3 spots were 3-for-9 and 4-6 were 1-for-9 … Post 129 forced eight walks … Hillsboro is 1-1 against Post 62 this season … Hillsboro is 2-0 against potential finals opponent Circleville, sweeping a doubleheader at Shaffer Park this summer … In their two previous games this summeragainst each other, Post 62 won 9-6 and Hillsboro won 9-8 … In two tournament games, Hillsboro has used just 2 1-3 innings of relief pitching. 

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