There’s a reason it’s called the dreaded leadoff baserunner.
For Johnsonburg, there was no dread at all as freshman Austin Green wore a delivery from Owl pitcher Thomas Guay in the back. That was the start of a four-run top of the seventh inning for the Rams in a come-from-behind 7-4 victory Friday afternoon at Pitt-Bradford’s Kessel Athletic Complex.
“That last inning, the moment you hit the leadoff batter you know bad things are going to happen,” Bradford High head coach Andy Carlson said. “They hit a few bleeders, a couple balls hard. They wanted the game more than we did in the end. We just are not doing the things we need to.”
The Rams took the lead for good in the seventh in a back-and-forth game that saw both teams respond and rally to deficits. Green moved ahead on a Ben Freeburg single and hits by Daunte Allegretto and Johnny Mitchell led the late-game rally for the Rams.
For Carlson, however, it was another missed opportunity for the Owls (3-7) to capture a quality win, as Johnsonburg (10-2) got the season sweep of Bradford High.
Doubly troubling for Carlson and the Owls is that it’s the second game that slipped away against Johnsonburg, as walks and four runs in the fourth through sixth innings resulted in a 6-4 loss in the Paper City.
Three weeks later, it was more of the same.
“We’re a little young. It’s not just freshmen,” Carlson said. “It’s sophomores and juniors and seniors –– although our seniors had a really nice day today for the most part –– it’s just not stepping up in the key opportunities and really getting the big hit, the big out. All those things.”
Carlson said he and the coaching staff are still searching for players to step up in big moments.
“We had a couple guys striking out and pitches right down the middle and they took it looking for somebody else to do it,” Carlson said. “We need guys who want to step up and do it. That’s what I told the guys. We need guys that want to be the guy. They all know, if they want to be the guy and mess up, I have no beef. But I need guys that want to be the guy.”
After trailing 1-0 after one inning, Bradford High got on the board with two runs in the second. Starting pitcher Peyton Manion and fellow freshman Tyler Gigliotti hit consecutive singles, while Patrick Caskey walked.
That left Dan Manion at the plate with the bases loaded. While the slugger didn’t get a hit, he did earn a walk to score Gigliotti before Adam Cary scored on a passed ball in the next at-bat.
Johnsonburg took two back in the top of the third, but Peyton Manion stopped the bleeding when he got Garret Gregori to strike out with the bases loaded.
The Owls tacked on another in the third when Cary received a four-pitch walk with the bases loaded, and then scored the go-ahead run in the sixth when Jack Pecora singled home pinch runner Adam Boyer.
However, the damage could have been much worse, as the Owls struck out once with the bases loaded in the bottom of the third and left numerous others in scoring position.
“It’s nice to rally,” Carlson said. “Even in the rallies, we had multiple opportunities to score other runs and really only one time did we step up and drive the ball. If you look at the book, we struck out four or five times with runners at second and third. We just didn’t produce as much as we needed to produce.”
The Owls have plenty of opportunities to get back on track –– including four games next week. Bradford High hosts Clearfield on Monday and Cameron County on Tuesday, while traveling to St. Marys to participate in the Elk County tournament on Thursday and Friday.
Carlson’s plans for improving? They’re simple, and it starts today.
“Come in (today) and we practice and we get ready to play Clearfield on Monday and we’re going to try and win that game.”
At BRADFORD
R H E
Johnsonburg 102 000 4 7 6 1
Bradford 021 001 0 4 5 1
Johnny Mitchell (4 SOs, 3 BBs), and Zack Zameroski, Mitchell
Peyton Manion (3 SOs, 4 BBs), Thomas Guay (1 SO, 1 BB) and Caleb Nuzzo
