Wildcats outlast Rams to claim piece of South Seven

MARION -- In terms of a team effort, this was the definition.
There were a lot of heroes but Cory Howard was the last as his single in the ninth inning drove in Cavan Cameron to give the Marion High School baseball team a 7-6 win over Mt. Vernon in an epic South Seven Conference battle Thursday at the Crisp Sports Complex.
Marion earned a share of the South Seven title with the win, but the Wildcats sure felt like outright champions because Thursday's opponent, those rival Rams, were the co-champs -- and Marion beat them twice.
"I tell you what. It was two really good teams, really good pitching, and just a very competitive ballgame," said Marion coach Marty Manfredo. "And it was nice to come out on top."
Marion improved to 17-5 overall and finishes at 8-2 in the South Seven. Mt. Vernon dropped to 19-7 and 8-2.
As for that ninth inning, Cameron drew a leadoff walk and had to stay at first when Austin Palmer's bunt attempt was caught in the air, but Cameron swiped second on a delayed steal to put himself in scoring position with Howard at the plate.
"They had taken that away the whole game and I think they kind of fell asleep," Manfredo said. "We were watching their middle infielders and they'd been going to the bag after every pitch and they didn't. Their catcher tried to frame it and it didn't work."
And then Howard used his unorthodox but effective swing to poke the game-winner to right-center field and set off a wild celebration.
"Cory has been in a slump lately but he was showing signs of coming out of it and he absolutely roped that one," Manfredo said. "There was no doubt about it."
Hez Goodman's two-run double in the sixth gave the Wildcats a 6-4 lead -- it plated Brendan Soldner and Drake Gravatt, who both hit two-out singles -- and then Goodman came on to pitch in the seventh after Mitchell Jackson went four solid frames and Howard bridged the gap for two innings.
Goodman, who was last season's conference co-MVP but injured most of this season until recently, moved to the mound after the leadoff hitter reached on an error by Jackson, who was moved to second base to begin the inning.
"We had to make a switch and moved Mitchell to second and he hadn't played there all year," Manfredo said, "so of course naturally they hit him one and it's a shorthopper."
Goodman then gave up a hit down the left-field line, threw a wild pitch that produced a run and balked to bring in another runner and tie the game at 6.
But then the senior southpaw got a strikeout, comebacker for a fielder's choice and a fly ball to center to leave it knotted.
"Hez got us out of it and then gutted out two more innings for us," Manfredo said.
The final out of the top of the ninth was especially nice. A deep fly ball went to right-center field, but Soldner tracked it down near the fence and made a spectacular grab and avoided a collision with Howard, who was now in right field.
"Brendan's catch," Manfredo said, "was fantastic."
Heroes were all over the field -- literally in Palmer's case as he played four positions in the game and also hit a two-run single in the first inning after Jackson drove in a run.
Several players shifted positions multiple times after shortstop Josh Griffin was ejected in the fifth inning for sliding into a player at second base -- umpires told Manfredo he went beyond the bag although pictures showed that wasn't the case.
Playing a role in the win besides those already mentioned were Jake Welch, Kameron Dover, D.J. Tucker, Christian Burgrabe, David Fletcher and catcher Aaron Maragni.
"It was just a really gutsy performance by all our kids, and especially those kids that came in off the bench even if it was for an inning," Manfredo said. "Everybody played their part and we snuck out of here with a conference championship."