CANTON — Man, they were really up against it.
On the verge of facing an earlier than expected elimination in the postseason, the defending Division V state champion Waynedale was three outs away from being upset by Keystone during Friday’s district final at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium in Canton.
Heading into the bottom of the seventh inning down three runs, Waynedale was about to see a new pitcher from Keystone in Tucker Webb, after having trouble against starter Blake Moore for a large part of the game. After drawing a few walks, and runs driven in by Collin McGlothlin and Kamron Mast to trim the Keystone lead to one, Waynedale’s leadoff hitter Brayden Steiner stepped up with the bases loaded and one out.
Steiner, the starting pitcher for the Golden Bears, ripped a pitch down the third base line for a walk-off two-run double to lift Waynedale (26-3) past Keystone (16-11) 8-7 to clinch another district title.
Coming through in the seventh inning was a breakthrough for a Waynedale offense that had some rough at-bats against Keystone’s Moore, who for four innings had the Golden Bears number, giving up one earned run and one hit. He finished with 10 strikeouts.
“Moore was struggling and we knew as soon as the other pitcher came in, we hopped on him real quick,” said Steiner, on his team’s work in the seventh inning. “He was throwing a lot of fastballs and not many strikes. It definitely helped facing a different pitcher. The speed was different.”
“He’s a great pitcher. He really kept us off balance,” said Waynedale first baseman and pitcher Logan Troyer on Moore. “We strung a couple of hits off him and then we saw the other pitcher.”
“Their first pitcher was really good. After we had seen six full innings with Moore, I felt like we were starting to get better at-bats off of him,” said Waynedale head coach Lucas Daugherty. “When they brought in the relief pitcher, I knew if we had to put some pressure on them. We just preached to our guys, ‘Find a way on base and get it to the next guy.’ One bat at a time and find a way on base. The bottom of the order really did that and set the tone. When Brayden Steiner got up there with runners on, we have a lot of confidence in him. He’s a great player. A senior coming through in a big moment like that was awesome.”
Through 5 1/2 innings, Keystone had outhit Waynedale 7-1 and for the game finished with 12 hits to the Golden Bears eight.
Yet, a key area where the Wildcats caused issues for Steiner and Troyer on the mound was on the basepaths, as Keystone stole their share of bases and got good jumps in the process. That played a meaningful role in how the Wildcats produced a three-run sixth inning that put them up 6-3 and why they were in position to close the game out with a 7-4 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning.
“They put a lot of pressure on us,” said Troyer, who finished with two hits and one RBI. “They were constantly running around the bases and pressuring us a lot.”
“To be honest, I don’t think we did well controlling baserunners today, so that’s something we’re going to work on” Daugherty said. “That’s all the players. It’s not just one guy. One thing you can do to minimize that is not allow the leadoff guy to get on base early. They’re a very athletic, fast team.”
For Waynedale, the current No. 1 ranked team in Division V according to MaxPreps, this is just the first step of what it hopes to be another state appearance in Akron a week from now.
“It means a lot,” said Steiner, on winning another district title. “Definitely falling in the footsteps of last year’s seniors. It means a lot to do it as a new team and for me as a senior.”
jamessimpson@gannett.com
Twitter/X: @JamesSimpson II
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Steiner’s walk-off hit lifts defending state champ Waynedale to Div. V district title
Reporting by James Simpson II, Wooster Daily Record / The Daily Record
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