WINTHROP — A wild and crazy top of the seventh turned chaotic in the bottom half of the inning.
After Sacopee Valley plated seven runs to begin the final frame and take a three-run lead, the Winthrop Ramblers answered with four of their own to rally for an improbable 8-7 win in a Western Class C quarterfinal baseball game Thursday.
Drew Stratton’s spinning cue ball grounder halfway up the line plated the tying and winning runs after he and relief pitcher Anthony Haskell collided and both fell to the ground. Stratton got up more quickly and raced to first before a play could be made to end a roller-coaster seventh.
Third-seeded Winthrop (13-3) saw its 4-0 lead evaporate into a 7-4 deficit entering the home half of the seventh. With two out and one on, Matt Sekerak singled sharply into the hole. After Ben Caprara walked, No. 9 hitter Zack Steele strolled to the plate to face freshman starter Roderick Maynard (1-2). Steele had previously struck out in all three of his plate appearances, but coaxed a walk out of the tiring southpaw.
At that point, Sacopee coach brought in the fireballer Haskell to face Stratton.
“I wanted to make sure I could time him up from the on-deck circle when he was warming up,” said Stratton. “He was a little quicker, but he was right down the middle. I wanted to get a ball I could drive. I didn’t drive it, but it worked out with a swinging bunt.”
The junior took a heater down the middle for strike one before fighting off the next three pitches to stay alive. A wild pitch plated one run and put Cabot Lancaster on third with the tying run with Steele moving up to second.
Stratton fouled off another Haskell offering to set the stage for the game-winning play. The right-handed hitting Stratton struck the ball off the end of his bat, sending a squib shot a couple of feet wide of the firstbase line. For a split second, no one moved as the ball was clearly in foul territory about 30 feet up the line.
The ball was spinning awkwardly and suddenly spun back into fair territory.
“Coach always preaches to run on anything, but I didn’t,” said Stratton.
It was then a race for Haskell to get to the ball, while Stratton ran toward first. The two met at the spot of the ball and Stratton ran into and over Haskell.
“I knew if I was in the base path, he couldn’t run into me,” said Stratton. “I ran into him, but I wasn’t meaning to.”
As Haskell gathered himself with the ball in his hand, Stratton reached first with Steele, who was running on contact, crossing home at the same time.
Both teams waited for home-plate umpire Peter Franchetti to rule interference on the opposing player, but no call was made. Franchetti’s left arm signaled fair ball and the game was over.
“My guys were just tooling (around the bases),” said Winthrop coach Marc Fortin. “I was watching the play and didn’t even send Zack, he just ran on his own. He’s a heads up player.”
Sacopee Valley coach Eric Anderson wasn’t pleased with the lack of a call.
“I hold no ill will toward Winthrop,” said Anderson. “It was certainly bizarre. I wanted to have a conference with the home-plate umpire, but he wouldn’t give it to me. It was a tough one.”
Winthrop scored two runs in the first with single tallies in the third and fourth to stake starter Sekerak to the 4-0 lead. Ben Allen, who went 3-for-3, plated one run with a double and singled in another. Sekerak breezed through the first six innings, striking out nine while allowing just five hits. That all changed in the final at-bat for the No. 6 Hawks (8-10).
Alex Fenderson began the frame by reaching on an infield error. Haskell followed with a grounder up the middle before Maynard helped his own cause with a sinking liner to center. When Keith Jordan reached on a dropped third strike and Brady Anderson worked the count to 2-and-1, Fortin replaced his starter with Jared Hanson (5-1).
“We gave them two extra outs,” said Fortin, “and they did a hell of a job. That’s a lot of pressure to rally in the seventh inning.”
Hanson yielded RBI singles to Brady Anderson and C.J. Dunnells before freshman catcher Kyle Jordan rocketed a two-run double to left to give the Hawks the lead. After Nick York ripped an RBI single past Sekerak, Hanson finally settled down to get the next three batters and escape further damage.
dst.hilaire@sunjournal.com
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