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June 2, 2009

CLASS 3A SECTIONAL: Pirates pound Dragons, 14-2

Charlestown will meet Salem in final

BY DANIEL ALLAR

SELLERSBURG — Charlestown looked every bit the superior team on Monday night, hitting the ball all over the diamond and taking advantage of Silver Creek errors to roll over the Dragons 14-2 and advance to the final of the Class 3A Silver Creek Sectional.

Although Charlestown’s entire lineup got in on the action, the performances of junior ace Bryan Williams and senior catcher Damon Vest stood out.

Williams picked up his second win of the sectional by pitching five innings, giving up five hits and two runs (one earned) and recording two strikeouts. Vest pitched two innings of scoreless relief, striking out three Dragons and walking two in the final frame.

The duo also carried much of the load for the Pirates at the plate, combining for six runs and six RBIs and connecting on back-to-back homers in the top of the second inning.

“We’ve been fortunate to have those guys in the meat of our lineup all year,” said Pirates coach Ricky Romans.

They made their presence felt immediately. Vest led off the top of the first with a double and Williams singled him in to give Charlestown a quick 1-0 lead.

Silver Creek bounced back in the bottom of the inning by hitting three singles and then scoring on an error by Pirate third baseman Joel Rodriguez.

However, Charlestown quickly foiled any of the Dragons’ hopes for an upset in the bottom of the second when Chad Brady singled John Thorstad to third on a well-executed hit-and-run, setting the stage for the consecutive homers by Vest and Williams that put the Pirates on top, 5-1.

Silver Creek put another run on the board in the third, but could not mount enough offense to offset the 15 hits that Charlestown compiled in addition to six Dragon errors.

Charlestown chased Silver Creek started Kyle Briner off the mound in the fourth inning and had similar success against relievers Austin Mann and Nolan Taylor.

Romans decided to go with his No. 1 starter for a second game in a row and will count on senior Cameron Metzger to pitch in the 6 p.m. final tonight against Salem.

“You've got to win this one to get to the final. You’ve got to go with your best,” he said. “I pulled them aside yesterday. I said, ‘Bryan, you’ve gotta get us there. Cameron, you've gotta win it’,” Romans said.

Romans said he pulled Williams after the fifth inning in case he needs him to relieve Metzger tonight.

Some of the only chinks in the Pirates’ armor came on the defensive end, where an error and a misplayed flyball led to the only Silver Creek runs.

“What happens at this stage is the kids get nervous,” Romans said. “I think we played a little on our heels at the beginning. We have guys that are capable, we just get a little let down sometimes.”

However, the fact that his team was pounding the Dragons’ pitching helped his team in the field, Romans said.

“Once you get a lot of runs, it makes it easier,” he said.



CHARLESTOWN 140 410 4—14 15 2

SILVER CREEK 101 000 0—2 5 6

W—Williams. L—Briner. 2B—Vest (C), Williams (CH), Thorstad (CH), Taylor (SC). 3B—Rhodes (C). HR—Vest (C), Willaims (C).

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