Manchester rallies to beat Ocean Lakes in extra innings as Dolphins lament missed opportunities in region baseball semifinal
It was a postgame talk that Ocean Lakes coach Pete Zell dreaded because he knew the season had ended far too early.
The Dolphins had a two-run lead late, but Manchester rallied to send the game into extra innings before winning 6-4 in nine innings to end the Dolphins’ state tournament hopes.
As the players — including nine seniors — circled around him with tears in their eyes, he told them how proud he was of them. But each player knew the Dolphins had opportunities to extend their season.
“I told them, ‘You guys were very successful most of the time. Today, we just had too many mistakes,’” said Zell, whose team finished the season 16-5, but had won seven of its last eight games. “It was mistake after mistake after mistake. And it just catches up to you. It isn’t for a lack of trying. Today, it was a lack of executing.”
Manchester, from Midlothian, took the early lead when Aiden Harris smashed a two-run homer to left-center to give the Lancers a 2-0 edge.
But the Dolphins rallied in the bottom of the inning as they scored four runs without getting the ball out of the infield, thanks to well-placed bunts and aggressive baserunning.
There were many more opportunities for the Dolphins to blow the game open, but they were unable to capitalize.
That allowed Manchester to hang around as the Lancers scored two runs in the sixth inning to help send the game into extra innings.
Manchester (13-8-1) took the lead for good in the ninth inning.
With two outs and two runners on, shortstop Andrew Brown — who was 0 for 4 with four strikeouts — came through with a single up the middle.
“It felt good to finally get a hit and come through for my team,” Brown said.
The Lancers added another run on a wild pitch to take a two-run lead into the bottom of the ninth.
With the sun setting, Ocean Lakes put two runners on base when Marcel Whitfield drew a leadoff walk and Max Kuhle was hit by a pitch.
But that’s as close as the Dolphins would get as the Lancers held on for the win.
“Sometimes you just got to have guys in the big moments come up and step up and make the plays,” Zell said. “You got to find a way to get it done in the big spots.”
Elsewhere, Landstown also saw its bid for a state tournament bid come to an end as the visiting Eagles lost 4-3 to Cosby, also of Midlothian, in the other Class 6 Region A semifinal.
Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com Follow @LHRubama on Twitter.
