The Redlegs took on the the Kettering Royals in the MVABL
semi-finals on Saturday afternoon at Nischwitz stadium in
Fairborn. The Redlegs took the season series from the
Royals in 2018, winning 3 out of their 4 matchups, but
the 6-seed Royals had just upset the Dayton Rangers in a
3-game series that saw their offense put up a whopping 35
runs.
The visiting Royals looked to keep that offensive
momentum going as they came out swinging in game 1,
putting 3 runs on the board against Redlegs ace Aaron
Carmack.
The Redlegs answered in the bottom of the 1st, scoring
twice to cut the deficit to one. Jacob Robinson started
things off with a walk and moved up to 2nd on a single by
Nick Davis. Kyle Arend then put down a perfect sacrifice
bunt to move the runners into scoring position for MVABL
RBI leader Mike Hartman. Hartman cashed in, driving both
runners home with a base hit.
Camden then tied things up in the bottom of the 2nd
thanks to an RBI single by Adam Parks, driving in Brandon
Howard who walked to start the inning.
The Royals took advantage of some Redleg miscues in the
top of the 3rd and pushed two more runs across, giving
them a 5-3 lead. Chris Flaherty then did some damage in
the 4th by launching a 2-out triple to the base of the
center field wall before 2018 MVABL MVP Evan Koogler
drove him in with a single.
Trailing 6-3, the Redlegs chipped away in the bottom of
the 5th. Nick Davis singled to start the inning and
moved to 3rd on a Kyle Arend double. This brought RBI
machine Mike Hartman back to the plate and he drove both
runners home with another clutch hit.
Carmack cruised through the 5th and 6th innings, allowing
only one base runner as he gave the Redleg offense a
chance to rally, and rally the Redlegs did. After the
first two batters of the bottom of the 6th were retired,
Adam Parks ignited a Redleg rally. Parks singled and
stole 2nd before Jacob Robinson hit a grounder to 2nd
base that proved to be a bit too difficult to handle.
Robinson was able to beat out the close play at first and
meanwhile Adam Parks alertly moved from 2nd to home,
narrowly beating the throw with a head first dive across
the plate. Nick Davis then singled to keep the inning
alive before Kyle Arend mashed a triple to bring both
runs home. Mike Hartman then followed with a triple of
his own, capping off the four-run rally, giving the
Redlegs a 9-6 lead.
That was plenty enough for Carmack, who recorded two
punchouts in the top of the 7th to seal the game one
victory.
Boxscore
| J Robinson | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| N Davis | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| K Arend | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| M Hartman | 4 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| J Watson | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B Howard | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| S Micomonaco | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J Gross | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| A Parks | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
2B: Arend
3B: Arend; Hartman