Oak Glen defeats Bees in walk-off sectional win
May 16—NEW CUMBERLAND, W.Va. — It is one of sports' unenviable truths, and one of its greatest lessons, that for every jubilant triumph, there is on the other side equal heartbreak.
So it was that No. 4 Oak Glen's magical, upset-laden postseason run to the top of Class-AA Region 1, Section 1 came at the expense of the East Fairmont Bees' season, the Golden Bears scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat the Bees 11-10 in dramatic fashion Monday.
In a see-saw sectional final, Oak Glen put up five unanswered runs between the first two innings, only for East Fairmont to leapfrog the Golden Bears with seven unanswered between the fourth and fifth.
The Golden Bears cut it to one in the fifth innings, 7-6, but East scored thrice more between the sixth and seventh, and entered the bottom half of Monday's final frame ahead 10-6.
Any excitement from a leadoff walk was dulled by the next two Oak Glen batters getting out, but the game was far from over for the Golden Bears. One more walk, a hit-by-pitch, and four hits, all singles, summated Oak Glen's two-out rally against the Bees, with Chase Patterson walloping a bases-loaded shot into right center to score two runs and put the ribbon on a five-run comeback seventh inning.
"East Fairmont is a great team, a great school," Oak Glen head coach Eric Hayden said. "Joe really teaches them how to play the game. I just kept telling my guys keep grinding, keep grinding, we're going to come back and man, the group of seniors at the top of the lineup just got it done. They just kept making the train go through and getting the next guy to the plate. We just kept making plays."
Oak Glen's Preston Cole ended up claiming the win on the mound for the Golden Bears, the same pitcher who threw six innings of shutout ball when the two teams met earlier in the sectional playoffs.
East Fairmont's Tristan Boone took the loss, pitching 1.2 innings in relief of Connor Tingler, who started Monday. After surrendering three runs, Boone exited the game in favor of Brody Bledsoe, who inherited runners on second and third. Bledsoe hit the first batter he saw to load the bases, and Patterson walked it off for the Bears with his two-run hit.
In a contest with drastic swings back-and-forth, the outcome late in Monday's matchup came down to razor-thin margins, including some pitch locations on two-strike counts that, if called strikes instead of balls, would have ended the game.
"[Tristan Boone] came in right there and I thought Boonie did an excellent job as well," East Fairmont head coach Joe Price said. "A couple calls didn't go our way that I thought were right there. It is what it is."
"Boonie deserved a better fate than that, the whole team did to be honest with you. Couldn't be prouder of all of these guys."
East took awhile to get the wheels turning on offense after their two-hour hike north to New Cumberland, but Oak Glen had no problems firing out of the gates. Four runs came in the first inning for the Golden Bears, including two off the bat of TJ Decapio after a shallow single to center field.
Another run came in for the Golden Bears in the second, Hunter Rhoades' ground out going down as a sacrifice hit after Kholton Goodlin scored on the play.
After managing single baserunners in the first and second, both off of walks, East tallied two hits in the third, but still couldn't chip into the deficit.
The Bees' bats livened even more in the fourth, as East scored four runs in the period, with Brody Bledsoe and Owen Music each cracking two-RBI singles up the middle.
After the Golden Bears jumped on him for four runs in the first, Bees senior Connor Tingler shook it off the rest of his outing. Two runs, one earned and one unearned, were all Oak Glen was afforded over the next four innings with Tingler on the mound.
"Couldn't be prouder of all 17 of our guys today," Price said. "We did battle, we worked ourselves into a hole early on, battled back, pushed some runs across. Tingler settled in and threw a great game."
The senior finished with five strikeouts in five innings pitched, walking seven, allowing three hits and six runs, four earned.
East Fairmont took the lead in the fifth, Carter Brown leading off the inning with a single up the middle and eventually coming around to score on a Ian Graffius single, also back up the middle.
The game tied 5-5 with two outs, it was Music who once again came through in the clutch for the Bees, plating two more runners with a single to center.
The Golden Bears chipped into East's lead in their turn on offense in the fifth, but even that seemed bitter-sweet thanks to an excellent defensive play from the Bees.
With one out and runners on second and third, Oak Glen's Tyler McKay punched a single to center. The runner from third scored easily, and with East centerfielder Ian Graffius fielding the ball just as the runner from second was rounding for home, there was going to be a play at the plate.
Graffius' throw flew to home and was picked on a one-hop by catcher — and brother — Conner Graffius, who applied the tag to the would-be tying run at home. The next batter flew out and East's lead was preserved.
The game looked to be on the upswing for East after that play, the Bees scoring two more in the sixth, Ian Graffius and Jake Vincent responsible for the scoring plays, and one more in the top of the seventh, Danny Raddish earning the RBI. But Monday still had its greatest swings yet to come going into the seventh, and Oak Glen's magical run as the No. 4 seed in the section concluded with them raising the trophy high on their home field.
"Our guys are all really gritty players and they came to play every day," Price said. "We've been in some tight ballgames the last couple weeks here, and they've shown that. They've dug deep and they've gotten things done. We just came up a little short today. Hats off to Oak Glen, but I will take our guys any day of the week."
East Fairmont finishes 18-12, with wins over North Marion and Fairmont Senior in the sectional tournament, and both losses coming against Oak Glen, who moves on to regional play against Keyser.
The Bees graduate Connor Tingler, Joey Alvaro, Carter Brown, Conner Graffius and Jakob Vincent, players who will be missed for their impact on the field and in the dugout.
"Couldn't be more proud of all of our seniors' leadership," Price said. "Connor Tingler, Conner Graffius, Joey Alvaro, Jake Vincent and Carter Brown. Great, great senior leadership from those guys and they're going to be productive members of society and their parents have done an excellent job raising fine young men."
EAST FAIRMONT BEES
Owen Music: 2-4 BB, 4RBI, 2SB
Connor Tingler: 1-3 IBB, SACBUNT, R
Danny Raddish: 2-5 2B, RBI
Carter Brown: 2-5 2R
Joey Alvaro: 0-4 SACBUNT
Conner Graffius: 2-3 BB, 2R
Ian Graffius: 2-3 BB, 2R, 2RBI
Jake Vincent: 2-3 SACBUNT, 2R, RBI, SB
Brody Bledsoe: 2-4 R, 2RBI
Connor Tingler: 5.0IP, 3H, 7BB, 5K, 4ER, 6R
Tristan Boone (L): 1.2IP, 4H, 3BB, 1K, 5ER, 5R
Brody Bledsoe: 0.0IP, 1H, 0BB, 0K, 0ER, 0R
Reach Nick Henthorn at 304-367-2548, on Twitter @nfhenthorn_135 or by email at nhenthorn@timeswv.com.
