PARMA HTS. — The rain was falling and Rootstown didn’t care.
Perched along the first-base line, the rain-soaked Rovers didn’t need umbrellas with a district championship trophy in hand.
Senior Brady Kreitzburg, who tossed 5⅔ strong innings to lead No. 11 Rootstown to an 8-3 victory over No. 4 United in a Division VI district title game May 30, was in no rush to get out of the rain.
“Absolutely not,” Kreitzburg said. “It makes it better if anything.”
The Rovers’ first district championship in two decades was improbable. A year ago, they had a losing record, a 2-8 mark in the Portage Trail Conference and were eliminated in a sectional final. They graduated several key seniors from that team, including longtime standouts Austin Biggin, Tony Karp and Joe Weaver.
Somehow, a year later, Rootstown is 18-9.
Somehow, a year later, the Rovers are district champs.
“It’s really amazing how things work out,” Rootstown coach Keith Waesch said. “We have four seniors on this team that have played pretty much varsity ball most of the way through and been leaders for us, and it’s great to see them go out as district champs.”
Waesch noted in that first-base dugout — a refuge from the downpour — that this may not be his most talented team. Shoot, he had a team a few years back for which future Ohio University pitcher Adam Beery wasn’t even the ace — yet.
But the veteran coach knew Rootstown had a chance coming out of this year’s seeding meeting. His Rovers proved him right at home against Springfield to win a sectional title. They proved him right on the road against No. 8 Columbia Station. And they proved him right against the fourth-seeded Golden Eagles.
“This may not be the most talented team that we’ve put on the field, but timing is everything, and these kids have played well at the right time,” Waesch said. “I’m so proud of the way that they’ve finished this season and the season that we’ve had.”
Sean Boveington, Brady Kreitzburg, Ethan White lead Rootstown to victory
Kreitzburg was certainly one of the Rovers’ brightest stars.
He was unfazed by a couple of first-inning errors behind him, limiting the damage to a single run. He attacked inside without fear, beautifully locating his inside fastball. He allowed just two runs in 5⅔ innings, with nine strikeouts against four walks.
But he was far from alone.
Senior second baseman Sean Boveington twice retreated to the outfield to catch difficult pop-ups. The first ended that opening inning, stranding two runners to help the Rovers overcome those early errors. The second was even more impressive as he caught the ball by his waist with his back turned to the infield.
“Sean is a utility kid for us that pretty much can play any position on the infield and has, with the exception of first base, for us,” Waesch said. “So he’s one of those kids that is nice to have in your back pocket because you can move him anywhere, depending upon the situation in the game, and he’s usually going to respond defensively and offensively.”
Ethan White also provided a highlight.
After two walks and an error set up the junior with the bases loaded in the first, White pulled a low-and-in 2-0 pitch to left for an RBI single. A wild pitch and an groundout by RJ Soika each plated a run as Rootstown built a 3-0 lead it never relinquished.
“Ethan has had some issues dropping his back shoulder a little bit and getting under the baseball and popping out,” Waesch said. “We’ve been working on that hard for the last three, four weeks, and he’s really put together some nice at-bats with some line drives, hitting the ball hard.”
Boveington delivered a few innings later.
After the Rovers left the bases loaded in the third, it appeared they might let another opportunity slip in the fourth, striking out with runners on second and third and no outs. Boveington, the next batter, came to the rescue, smartly attacking a 2-0 pitch that caught plenty of plate, sending a sacrifice fly into the sky. The next batter, Carson Hayn, dropped a fly down the right-field line for an RBI triple as the Rovers pushed their lead to 5-1.
“There’s no doubt taking it from 3-1 to 5-1 was huge,” Waesch said. “Huge for a lot of reasons. Huge for your pitcher to get a little bit of breathing room, and then to get a couple of key at-bats where you score runs, then I think that gives your hitters some confidence as well.”
Rootstown scored in three of the last four innings, including Alex Ely’s RBI double to the right-field gap, and all those runs came in handy as United had nine base-runners over the last three innings, with Kreitzburg and then Soika working their way out of trouble.
All told, United left 13 runners on base.
“Once they’re on, it’s behind you,” Kreitzburg said. “You just got to work on keeping them on and just remember they’re there, but don’t let them affect your pitching, and I thought I did that pretty well.”
Next up
Division VI Region 21 semifinal
No. 11 Rootstown vs. No. 1 Lake Center Christian
5 p.m. June 4 at Louisville
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: ‘Really amazing how things work out’: Rootstown baseball upsets United for district title
Reporting by Jonah Rosenblum, Ravenna Record-Courier / Record-Courier
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
