For the first time ever, the Hartville Eagles went to the Crane Fall Wood Bat Tournament this past weekend and left with a championship.
The Eagles’ Ethan McDaris, the eventual tournament MVP, hit a game-winning RBI double in Hartville’s final at-bat to beat Marion C. Early in the title game, 8-7.
Hartville outscored their four opponents in the week long tournament, 38-10.
In the finals, Hartville trailed 5-1 through five innings before their bats woke up in the bottom of the sixth inning.
With one out, Dakota Stigall had a two-RBI double. Brody McNiel eventually added bases clearing triple to put the Eagles in front, 7-5.
The Panthers answered by tying the game in the seventh with two runs.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, McDaris’ double scored Hunter Lowery to clinch the championship.
McNiel finished with four RBIs; McDaris had three hits, one RBI and one run scored; Stigall had two RBIs and one run scored; Isaac Boyer scored twice; Lowery scored twice; Eric Wilson had one RBI and one run scored; and Justin Parker scored one run.
On the mound, Parker went six innings and allowed five earned runs on eight hits with three strikeouts.
Lowery tossed one inning of shutout ball and allowed one hit with two strikeouts.
On Friday night, the Eagles’ offense had a six run fourth inning and never looked back in an 11-1 win over Sparta.
Wilson scored three times; both Grant Culver and Parker had two RBIs and one run scored; Stigall scored twice; McNiel had one RBI and three runs scored; Rory Kirkpatrick had two RBIs; and Lowery scored one run.
Jalon Cryer tossed five innings of shutout ball and allowed one hit with eight strikeouts.
On Wednesday, the Eagles trailed Galena 2-0 through five innings before rallying late for a 4-2 victory.
Parker had two RBIs while Wilson, McNiel, Kirkpatrick and McDaris each scored one run.
Hartville’s offense had just three hits in the win.
Parker tossed two innings of shutout ball on the mound and allowed one hit with one strikeout. Stigall went five innings and allowed one earned run on two hits with three strikeouts.
Hartville also had a big 15-0 win over Hurley last week as the Eagles scored nine runs in the second and five runs in the third. Their offense had just four hits.
McDaris had two of those hits with four RBIs and two runs scored. Both Lowery and Parker had one RBI and two runs scored; McNiel, Kirkpatrick and Stigall each scored twice; Boyer had three RBIs and one run scored; Culver had one RBI and one run scored; while Wilson scored one time. Hunter Delcour tossed three innings of shutout ball and allowed one hit with four strikeouts.
