Gators end Silver Creek’s season with 7-1 victory
JAMESTOWN — One of the strengths of Silver Creek/Forestville’s baseball season, according to Coach Mike Janisch, has been its defense.
Unfortunately for the top-seeded Black Knights, their defense let them down Wednesday afternoon in the Section VI Class C1 championship game and they fell to No. 2 Allegany-Limestone, 7-1, at Diethrick Park.
All told, Silver Creek/Forestville (13-7) was guilty of six errors, which led to six unearned runs off tough-luck losing pitcher Chris Williams.
“Defense has been one of our hallmarks all year and to come up with (six errors) was very, very rare,” Janisch said. “It’s too bad because these kids have worked hard to get to this point. … Chris pitched a nice ballgame, but you have to have something behind you making plays.”
Grant Davis drove in four runs, including a three-run triple in the seventh inning, to back the four-hit pitching of Ryan Schlosser that lifted the Gators (14-4) to their first sectional crown since 2004.
“What can you say about Ryan?” Allegany-Limestone coach Eric Hemphill said. “He gives up an early run and then just bears down. This wasn’t his best stuff by any means this year, but a four-hitter? He just battles.”
Allegany-Limestone now advances to the crossover game at Jamestown’s Diethrick Park Saturday. Their opponent will be Maple Grove, which defeated Barker, 4-2, in the Class C2 title game last night.
The Black Knights actually took a 1-0 lead after the first inning, courtesy of Sam Mullen’s double, but that was all they could muster off Schlosser.
The Gators took advantage of two errors to tie the game in the second inning, thanks to Davis’ sacrifice fly, and then tacked on three runs in each of the fifth and seventh innings.
In both of those frames, Silver Creek/Forestville committed two errors to put the game out of reach.
“We’ve done it all year,” Hemphill said. “Our guys don’t give in. We seem to put a lot of pressure on other teams. … I feel that’s what high school baseball is all about.”
Zack Hemphill collected three hits, including a triple, and now is 9 for 11 in the postseason.
“We’ve got a bunch of fighters in that dugout,” Coach Hemphill said.
Mullen’s hit was the only one that went for extra bases for the Black Knights.