By PAUL GOTHAM
PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Ethan Ford took advantage of the opportunity to redeem himself.
After a base-running mistake cost his team a chance to knot the score in the sixth, the Honeoye Falls-Lima junior provided the game winner one inning later and left the tying run on second as the Cougars rallied late to beat host Pittsford Sutherland, 6-5.
“I give him a lot of credit,” HF-L head coach Dan Hoyt said. “A lot of kids would’ve caved after that. He came back in, came through with a big hit and closed the door with his pitching.”
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Ford connected on a full-count, off-speed pitch and scored teammate Robert Brown from second as HF-L rebounded from a loss to Sutherland on Monday night.
Ethan Ford gives @HFLCSDAthletics a 6-5 lead with one out in the seventh. pic.twitter.com/7rQ6HL69cd
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) April 12, 2022
“That’s a huge win for us,” Hoyt stated. “It really is.”
Trailing 5-3, Hayden Meehan and Owen Martin led the HF-L seventh with back-to-back walks. Colt Miller moved the runners with a sacrifice bunt before Brown cut the deficit to one with a base hit.
Martin scampered home with the tying run on sophomore Aidan Neenan’s suicide squeeze bunt, and the stage was set for Ford.
Aidan Neenan squeeze scores Owen Martin with the tying run. One out in the 7th. Runners on first and second. pic.twitter.com/iIV6awhfKc
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) April 12, 2022
With the Cougars trailing 4-3 in the sixth, Ford led the stanza with a double. He would have scored on Carson Joint’s single later in the frame, but was picked off by Sutherland pitcher Scott Froula.
“I made a huge mistake,” he said. “After being picked off, I knew I had to come up clutch. I just had to focus in, put the head down. I stayed back and got into it.”
With a 6-5 edge, the right-hander struck out the leadoff batter in the home half of the stanza. He surrendered a double to Cole Pringle before retiring the final two batters on fly balls to Miller in left field.
“My adrenaline was running a little bit, for sure,” the right-hander said. “I just had to focus in and get the job done. I just kept trying to put strikes in there.”
That HF-L had a chance for the late-inning rally occurred as the result of one swing of the bat.
Managing just one hit through the first three innings, the Cougars struck out seven times against Sutherland starter Thomas Carter.
Trailing 4-0, Neenan and starting pitcher Xavier Carbonel worked back-to-back base on balls to lead the fourth. Nolan Smith followed with a three-run shot to cut the deficit to one.
“We were down four-nothing with no life,” Hoyt noted. “Nolan’s three-run homer gave us something because we were doing nothing until to that point.”
Ford struck out three, walked one and allowed one run on four hits over four innings of relief to pick up the win.
“It wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t have that three-run home run from Nolan and the bunt from Aidan,” Ford said. “Colton in left field made a couple key catches. My teammates helped me out.”
Sutherland took advantage of two walks, a pair of hit batsmen and an error to score four runs in the second inning. The Knights looked ready to take their second straight in Monroe County Division IV action.
Sutherland came out on top 7-4 when the two teams met on Monday night.
“They had five unearned runs yesterday,” Hoyt said. “We were making errors left and right. This is a huge win.”
HF-L’s Carson Joint finished 2-for-3 in Tuesday’s game.
Jack Zawacki plates Noah Littlefield with a 2-out double. @SHSBSBL 5-3 in the 6th. pic.twitter.com/GjQ0BTz8QR
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) April 12, 2022
Sutherland’s Pringle was 2-for-3 with a run scored. Max Vorrasi singled and scored. Noah Littlefield collected a base hit, walk and two runs scored. Jack Zawacki drove in a run in the sixth with a double.
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