One of the greatest seasons in Charleroi American Legion baseball history ended on a tough note Thursday in a 3-2 loss to Paxton at Latrobe.
The defeat knocked Charleroi out of the American Legion State Tournament in the quarterfinals. Paxton remains one of three teams left in the field.
Ashton Ray was a hard luck loser for Charleroi as he went the distance, pitching a four-hitter with five strikeouts and three walks. He was pretty much perfect, except for one inning.
Paxton did all of its scoring in the third inning off Ray, thanks to an RBI double by Zach Kelemen and a towering two-run home run by Nick Keane over the fence in left field.
Ray gave up just one hit the rest of the way.
Keane’s homer came on the first pitch he faced.
“Ashton pitched his heart out, especially coming back on just a couple days’ rest,” said Charleroi manager Luke Mollis. “He deserved a better fate, that’s for sure.
“The thing about the home run was that he got the call crossed up on the pitch. It’s a tough break, but it happens.”
Trailing 3-0, Charleroi didn’t fade away but failed to score in a potentially huge fifth inning that ended in bizarre fashion.
Remington Lessman drew a lead-off walk. Teammate Hunter Mamie then struck out but reached base on a passed ball and errant throw to first.
The strange play gave Charleroi runners on first and third with no outs.
After winning pitcher Brayden Paul walked Ray on four pitches, Charleroi had the bases loaded.
Paul struck out Brock Henderson and then came the game’s biggest play.
Lorenzo Glasser stepped up and grounded to first base. Paxton first baseman Bubba Dorris threw to the plate to force Lessman.
Catcher Charlie Kane then tried to double up Glasser at first but threw the ball into right field.
Paxton right fielder Keane scooped the ball up and gunned it to the plate, where Mamie was tagged out for the final out by Kane. The play ended up a double play with both outs recorded at the plate.
Mollis is not so sure both outs were correct calls.
“The call on Mamie was one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen,” Mollis said. “Clearly Hunter got under the tag. That was huge right there. There were a few bad calls in the game.”
Charleroi tried to mount a comeback in the sixth as Dave Verscheran beat out an infield single for Charleroi’s first hit of the game off Paul.
After Chad Behrendt hit into a force out at second, Colton Brightwell smacked a full-count pitch over the fence in center to cut the deficit to 3-2.
With two outs, Paul walked Lessman on a full count and was relieved by Adam Reese.
Reeser struck out Mamie to end the sixth and then struck out the side in the seventh to save the game for Paxton.
The loss ended a season that Mollis doesn’t think he will forget.
“Most of these guys were here for three years, and they made a heck of a run,” he said. “I told them after the game they did things few other teams ave done.
“This was a heck of a bunch of kids, and I’m going to miss the ones who are moving on. It was a nice run.”
