Valley View knocks out win against Preble Shawnee
Despite fatigue after 10-game winning streak, Spartans manage 6-2 win over Arrows.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
GERMANTOWN — Fresh off winning 10 straight league games to claim the Southwestern Buckeye League Southwestern Division title, the Valley View bats were a little dormant Saturday, May 10.
The Spartans hosted Preble Shawnee in a game that meant nothing other than bragging rights of the existing rivalry between the two schools.
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Valley View (17-3) did just enough to earn that right by capitalizing on five Arrow errors for a 6-2 win.
"I don't want to take anything away from them," Valley View coach Roger Cox said of Preble Shawnee. "They have some very nice, young players, but I think because of winning those 10 straight league games, we were mentally worn out today."
The Spartans only mustered six hits off four Arrow pitchers, two of those being of the extra-base variety, a double each by Izaac Harshberger and Brian Blasik.
John Day scored Valley View's first run after being hit by a pitch in the first inning. He went to second on a single by Zac Cottongim and to third when Blasik reached on an error to load the bases. Day trotted home on a fly out by Josh Allen.
Two more Spartans crossed home plate in the second inning, one coming in on an RBI single by Sean Figley and the other on a throwing error.
Justin Hocker scored both runs for Preble Shawnee (6-13),
the first coming in the third inning. He singled to open the frame and later scored on a single by Sean Phillips.
Trailing 6-1 in the top of the seventh, the Arrows mounted
a rally by loading the bases with no outs. Hocker would score one batter later with one out, but a double play ended the threat.
"Five errors and four unearned runs. That's the microcosm of our season," first-year Preble Shawnee coach Ben Buehner said. "Our pitchers hit all their spots, but there just seemed to be that one play in every inning. We made an error and a run would score."
Preble Shawnee, the No. 8 seed, will travel to sixth-seeded Clinton-Massie at 5 p.m. Monday in the first round of the Division III Dayton sectional tournament. The winner will travel to top-seeded Carlisle on Wednesday.
Valley View, the No. 2 seed in the Division II Dayton
sectional, will host the
winner between Franklin and Chaminade-Julienne at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2852, or sweaver@coxohio.com.
