Late Scoring Helps Moniteau Beat Clarion-Limestone

STRATTANVILLE, Pa. (D9Sports) – For five innings Tuesday afternoon, it looked like Clarion-Limestone might get a season-boosting win over visiting Moniteau.

(Photo: Josh Adamson of Moniteau was the Hager Paving Player of the Game)

Thanks to clutch hitting from the bottom of the lineup, especially catcher and No. 7 hitter Ian Hawthorne, the Lions held a 2-0 lead for ace Sam Leadbetter after five.

Listen to the game:

And Leadbetter seemed to be on cruise control allowing just one hit and two walks through five innings.

But a caught stealing that wasn’t, an error, a bases-loaded walk and a wild pitch helped Moniteau rally for a 6-2 win.

The caught stealing that wasn’t came in the top of the sixth after Hunter Fitzingo started the inning with a base hit to right through the hole between the first baseman and second baseman.

After nearly getting picked off, Fitzingo, the Warriors leadoff man, decided to try to steal second. Hawthorne’s throw was strong and it looked like Fitzingo was going to be out. But shortstop Zane Summerville couldn’t hold the ball and Moniteau had a runner in scoring position with no out.

Nick Sosigian, who matched Leadbetter pitch-for-pitch throughout the game, then cut the C-L lead in half with a double to left-center field, and Jake Jewart moved Sosigian 90 feet with a slow roller to shortstop.

That bit of good baserunning paid off for Moniteau when Josh Adamson hit a sacrifice fly to left to tie the game.

“All I am trying to do is move him over, get him in any way possible,” Adamson, who was named the Hager Paving Player of the Game, said.

With Leadbetter at 98 pitches after six innings – he allowed two runs on four hits and two walks while striking out seven – and the new 100-pitch limit looming, C-L manager Brad Frazier made a chance to start the seventh bringing in soft-tossing lefty Christian Smith.

Smith got the first out of the inning before his relief mound opponent, Chance Nagy, started a Moniteau rally with a double to right-center. Smith then walked the No. 9 hitter, Brice Williams, the second time Williams drew a walk in the game.

That brought Fitzingo to the plate, but all the Warriors shortstop could do was hit a grounder toward third base, probably too soft for a double play but hard enough for third baseman Ben Smith to get the lead runner at third. But Smith booted the grounder and then failed to pick it up, and the bases were loaded with one out for Moniteau.

With the infield in, Nick Sosigian hit a grounder to first that newly entered first baseman Dylllan Rhoads fielded and threw home to Hawthorne for the force out of Nagy at the plate.

Now with two outs, Smith and the Lions had a chance to get out of the jam, but a 2-1 pitch to Jewart was called ball threw visibly upsetting the C-L junior hurler and eliciting some chatter toward the home plate umpire from C-L manager Brad Frazier.

Smith tried to recompose himself, but his next pitch was high, and Moniteau had the lead.

Things then really fell apart of C-L when Smith threw a wild pitch that scored Fitzingo and Adamson laced a triple of the head of left fielder Curvin Goheen to make it 6-2.

Nagy picked up the win in relief going two innings and allowing one hit and one walk while striking out two.

Sosigian was strong in his start needing only 69 pitches to get through five innings. He was helped by a three-pitch fourth inning that saw Riley Hummell ground back to the mound on the first pitch, Christian Smith ground to shortstop on the first pitch and Summerville also ground to short on the first pitch.

The final line for the Moniteau righty was five inning, two runs, three hits, two walks and three strikeouts.

The Lions scored a run in the third when Hawthorne singled leading off and his courtesy runner, Cole Grenci, went to third on a single to right by Ben Smith. One out later, after Colby Himes was hit by a pitch, a wild pitch plated the game’s first run.

In the fifth, Hawthorne doubled leading off with Grenci courtesy running again. Smith moved Grenci to third with a grounder to short and Jake Zacherl drove him in with a sac fly to center.

The win moves Moniteau to 8-3 on the year with C-L falling to 1-4.

C-L is back in action with a doubleheader at A-C Valley Thursday. A sweep would give Frazier, the only manager in C-L’s history, his 200th career win.

Moniteau returns to the diamond when it hosts Forest Area at Kelly Automotive Park in Butler Thursday.

MONITEAU 6, CLARION-LIMESTONE 2

Score by Innings

Moniteau 000 002 4 – 6
Clar.-Lime. 001 010 0 – 2

MONITEAU – 6

Hunter Fitzingo ss 4210, Nick Sosigian p/2b 4211, Jake Jewart lf 3111, Josh Adamson cf 3013, Wyatt Geibel c 4010, Nate Sosigian 3b 2000, Lake Pry 1b 2000, Brian Kushnar 2b 2000, Chance Nagy 1010, Brice Williams rf 1100. Totals 26-6-6-5.

CLARION-LIMESTONE – 2

Colby Himes 2b 1000, Curvin Goheen lf 3000, Sam Leadbetter 1b/ss 3010, Riley Hummell cf/rf 3000, Christian Smith 1b/p 3000, Zane Summerville ss/cf 3000, Ian Hawthorne c 2020, Cole Grenci cr 0200, Ben Smith 3b 3010, Jake Zacherl dh 2001, David Wiles rf 0000, Dyllan Rhoads 1b 0000. Totals 23-2-4-1.

Errors: C-L 2. LOB: Moniteau 5, C-L 5. 2B: Nagy, Nick Sosigian, Hawthorn. 3B: Adamson. SF: Adamson, Zacherl. SAC: Pry. DP Turned: Moniteau 1 (Na. Sosigian to Kushnar to Pry). HBP: Himes by Ni. Sosigian.

PITCHING

Moniteau
Nick Sosigian 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HP
Chance Nagy 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 0 HP
TOTALS: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HP

Clarion-Limestone
Sam Leadbetter 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
Christian Smith 1 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
TOTALS: 7IP, 6 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 7 K

Winning pitcher: Nagy
Losing pitcher: Smith