Bears run out of time
Rally falls just short in district loss to Medina
Ryan O’Malley (pictured earlier this season) and his North Royalton teammates saw their district semifinal comeback bid against Medina fall just short. Photo by BRUCE BILLOW
If a petition is ever started to extend high school baseball games from seven to eight or more innings, don’t be surprised if you see North Royalton’s Ryan O’Malley’s name somewhere near the top.
Despite a furious comeback, O’Malley and the Bears ran out of innings, losing 8-7 to Medina in the Barberton Division I District semifinals at the Barberton Sports Complex. The Bees (14-15) advanced to face Brunswick in the district final while North Royalton closes the book on a 12-13 season.
“We started putting the ball in play and it just worked out in our favor,” O’Malley said. “We just needed one more inning; we just needed that one more hit.”
To say the Bears were in a hole following the top of the third inning would be an insult to holes everywhere. Medina looked unstoppable in racing out to an 8-1 lead and forcing North Royalton’s starting pitcher Derek Ritterbusch from the game in the process.
The senior Ohio Northern recruit just didn’t have it this afternoon, exiting after an inning and a third with the Bees up 5-0.
“He was competing out there and it just wasn’t going his way,” Bears coach Brad Klingbeil said. “He was throwing the ball over the plate and they were hitting it but it is what it is. But Derek has been our go-to guy since Day 1. He got us here. And to his credit he continued to pitch through it.”
Shortstop T.J. Hoffman took the mound in the second and promptly ended the Medina threat by inducing Trace Peterson into a grounder. Although he would surrender three more runs through the third and fourth innings, Hoffman largely quieted the Bees’ bats.
Cue the Bears’ offense.
Trailing 8-1, North Royalton batted around, scoring four runs off six hits. Several of those hits came on first pitches as the Bears pounced on Medina’s Chris Fryer.
Zach Mueller, who reached on an infield hit and later scored on Dominic Palko’s single, said the team just needed to find its groove.
“I just think it took us an inning or two,” he said. “We hadn’t played for two days and we had to get used to it. We came out a little bit flat I thought but then we got a little fire in us and you saw what happened.”
What happened was North Royalton nearly pulling off an improbable comeback in the bottom of the seventh.
Tom Wishnosky reached base on an infield error. Mueller then stroked Fryer’s 2-1 pitch to right-center. An errant throw from the outfield allowed Wishnosky to score and Mueller to reach second.
With the tying run at the plate and nobody out, Medina went to the bullpen, calling on Garrett McLeod.
O’Malley’s double to straightaway center landed at the bottom of the fence and scored Mueller to make the score 8-7.
With no outs and the tying run at second, the momentum – and the game – seemed to be in North Royalton’s corner.
“Throughout the game, I mean, nobody was really out of it,” Hoffman said. “We were all into it no matter what. We felt we were going to come back.”
McLeod, however, had other plans. Recovering from O’Malley’s double, he settled down and struck out the next two batters. Ian Layhew put one more scare into the Bees, flying to deep left for the final out.
“Everybody was in it by the end and it was really great to see,” Mueller said. “We’ve had an up-and-down season, but to see us come together at the end, that was something for me to build on for next year.”
Despite a furious comeback, O’Malley and the Bears ran out of innings, losing 8-7 to Medina in the Barberton Division I District semifinals at the Barberton Sports Complex. The Bees (14-15) advanced to face Brunswick in the district final while North Royalton closes the book on a 12-13 season.
“We started putting the ball in play and it just worked out in our favor,” O’Malley said. “We just needed one more inning; we just needed that one more hit.”
To say the Bears were in a hole following the top of the third inning would be an insult to holes everywhere. Medina looked unstoppable in racing out to an 8-1 lead and forcing North Royalton’s starting pitcher Derek Ritterbusch from the game in the process.
The senior Ohio Northern recruit just didn’t have it this afternoon, exiting after an inning and a third with the Bees up 5-0.
“He was competing out there and it just wasn’t going his way,” Bears coach Brad Klingbeil said. “He was throwing the ball over the plate and they were hitting it but it is what it is. But Derek has been our go-to guy since Day 1. He got us here. And to his credit he continued to pitch through it.”
Shortstop T.J. Hoffman took the mound in the second and promptly ended the Medina threat by inducing Trace Peterson into a grounder. Although he would surrender three more runs through the third and fourth innings, Hoffman largely quieted the Bees’ bats.
Cue the Bears’ offense.
Trailing 8-1, North Royalton batted around, scoring four runs off six hits. Several of those hits came on first pitches as the Bears pounced on Medina’s Chris Fryer.
Zach Mueller, who reached on an infield hit and later scored on Dominic Palko’s single, said the team just needed to find its groove.
“I just think it took us an inning or two,” he said. “We hadn’t played for two days and we had to get used to it. We came out a little bit flat I thought but then we got a little fire in us and you saw what happened.”
What happened was North Royalton nearly pulling off an improbable comeback in the bottom of the seventh.
Tom Wishnosky reached base on an infield error. Mueller then stroked Fryer’s 2-1 pitch to right-center. An errant throw from the outfield allowed Wishnosky to score and Mueller to reach second.
With the tying run at the plate and nobody out, Medina went to the bullpen, calling on Garrett McLeod.
O’Malley’s double to straightaway center landed at the bottom of the fence and scored Mueller to make the score 8-7.
With no outs and the tying run at second, the momentum – and the game – seemed to be in North Royalton’s corner.
“Throughout the game, I mean, nobody was really out of it,” Hoffman said. “We were all into it no matter what. We felt we were going to come back.”
McLeod, however, had other plans. Recovering from O’Malley’s double, he settled down and struck out the next two batters. Ian Layhew put one more scare into the Bees, flying to deep left for the final out.
“Everybody was in it by the end and it was really great to see,” Mueller said. “We’ve had an up-and-down season, but to see us come together at the end, that was something for me to build on for next year.”