Falcons upset Braves 3-0

Key defensive play in third inning turns the momentum in Fenwick’s favor.

OXFORD — Great defensive plays played a part in 11th-seeded Fenwick’s 3-0 upset win over fifth-seeded Talawanda on Friday, May 14, at Pfister Field. But it was the Falcons (10-16) who came up with the key hits in the Division II sectional contest.

Tyler Helfferich limited Talawanda (16-13) to three hits, but the Braves’ Dutch Grammel was just as solid as he scattered seven Falcon hits.

Momentum went Fenwick’s way in the third, when center fielder Jamie Vaughn gunned down the Braves’ Nate Lynch as the Talawanda right fielder slid into home plate.

“I expected the umpire to make a safe call on the play,” Braves coach Pete Maus said. “But their center fielder really made a nice throw. That was a huge play.”

Vaughn fired a dart to Fenwick catcher Evan Dearwester, who tagged Lynch out for the final out of the inning.

“That play gave us a spark, but I don’t think it was anything like Zane Vogelsang’s lead-off hit to start the next inning,” Vaughn said. “It did feel good to get that run off home plate, though.”

Vogelsang singled to left and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Then, after Taylor Valentine’s sacrifice bunt moved him to third, Vogelsang scored on Zack Hart’s ground out.

Caleb Bolton then singled, stole second and eventually scored off Chad Goubeaux’s single into right center to make it 2-0 in favor of Fenwick.

In the top of the seventh, Fenwick tacked on another run.

That’s when Valentine led off with a single to left. He then raced to third on Hart’s sacrifice bunt to third. Bolton then came up with his second hit of the game to score Valentine.

“This is one of those games where both teams played extremely well,” said Maus. “If we play 10 games, I bet we’d each win five of them. We played very very well and did everything we were supposed to do.

“But in a tight game, you’ve got to get the breaks and I think Fenwick got those today.”

The Falcons will face ninth-seeded Franklin for a sectional title at 5 p.m. Thursday at Springboro.

Talawanda seniors Nick Pollit (center field), Dalton Batdorf (catcher) and pinch hitter Logan Kunkel each played their final high school games on Friday.

“Those are three seniors that contributed quite a bit for us through the years,” Maus said. “They’ll be missed, but we have a lot of talent coming back next season. If the underclassmen continue to progress by working hard over the summer and throughout the off-season, We’ll be very happy.”