EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Okemos defeated Holt 6-3 and Williamston held on for a 6-5 win over Lansing Catholic to advance to the semifinals of the Dean Shippey Diamond Basic.
Within the first sport of the night time, Okemos performed small ball to advance. The Wolves stole three bases and scored runs through a squeeze bunt and an overthrown pickoff try to second base.
“Coach [Rick] Acker, who was the varsity coach at Eaton Rapids for a long time, he’s in charge of our defensive alignment and he’s obviously in charge of our running game,” mentioned Okemos head coach Raul Presas. “He does a fabulous job. He’s a great baseball mind and he’s the reason we’re able to put pressure as much as we do on the other teams on the basepaths.”
“We’ve worked on that all year [starting with] the Florida spring break,” added junior pitcher Sebastian Blair. “That’s our bread and butter right there.”
Holt additionally performed efficient small ball, scoring on a double steal with runners on first and third and once more an overthrow to first on a sacrifice bunt. Nonetheless, the Wolves made clutch defensive performs after they wanted them most and Sebastian Blair pitched the entire sport.
Within the nightcap, Williamston took a 6-2 lead after the fifth inning, however Lansing Catholic responded with three runs within the sixth.
The Hornets promptly loaded the bases once more within the backside of the sixth, however the Cougars turned a powerful triple play to maintain the rating 6-5 and provides themselves an opportunity of their final at-bats.
Lansing Catholic loaded the bases within the seventh, however Williamston was capable of get a fly ball for the third out and strand the tying run at third base.
“That was probably one of the craziest games as far as how unlucky we were at times, and that’s nothing against Lansing Catholic,” mentioned Williamston head coach Ryan Orr. “It’s just the ball didn’t bounce our way and the way that we handled that adversity I thought was really, really good.”
“It’s really special,” added junior infielder Rudy Marinez. “You obviously don’t get to do things like this that much. So to pull this through, play the next game, that’s huge. That’s huge for this program.”
Marinez had an RBI triple and an RBI double within the victory.
Williamston will play within the semifinals on Thursday towards the winner of Portland St. Patrick vs. Grand Ledge.
Okemos can even play within the semifinals Thursday towards the winner of Mason vs. Portland St. Patrick.
