Sometimes, there's a fine line between winning and losing. In the Fayette Legion first-round baseball playoff game Tuesday between Connellsville and visiting Belle Vernon, it came down to one play.
Belle Vernon was up by a run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and Connellsville's Brian Sherwood was on third, poised to score the tying run. Dustyn Pastors made contact with the ball, but third baseman Joe Janosik fielded it and flipped it to first baseman Mike Pica for what looked to be a routine play. However, Pica had to come off the bag to handle the throw, and in doing so, attempted to tag out Pastors. The first-base umpire ruled that Pica had missed the tag, and Sherwood headed home. But the home plate umpire overturned the call on appeal, determining that Pastors was tagged out before Sherwood's run had scored and ending the game in Belle Vernon's favor, 6-5.
"It's just a shame that umpires are making the deciding calls in playoff games," Connellsville manager John Przybylinski said. "The kids played hard for nine innings, and to have it end on a questionable call is unacceptable."
With the victory, Belle Vernon takes a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series. Play shifts to DiVirgilio Field today for Game 2.
"(Connellsville is) a good team, and it came down to the last out. I'm real proud of our kids," Belle Vernon manager Kurt Shutterly said. "We've had a lot of errors on this field, and we kept it down to a minimum today."
Shutterly said Sam Bashioum has pitched well all season, so he was confident in Bashioum's ability to win in the playoffs.
"He's been my ace all year, so he's the kid I wanted on the mound in that situation," Shutterly said.
Bashioum pitched a complete game, striking out two and keeping Connellsville scoreless until the third inning, when Nick Lonigro singled and scored. Billy Dye added a run in the fourth for a 2-0 lead, as Connellsville starter Ben Herrington kept Belle Vernon under control.
Belle Vernon broke through in the fifth. Brett King smacked an RBI double, and Pica drove in a run with a triple to help the team gain a 3-2 edge.
Connellsville went back in front with its own three-run inning. Ryan Craft ripped an RBI triple, and Jeremy Molinaro tripled and scored to put the team back in front, 5-3.
But in the eighth, Belle Vernon regained the lead on RBI singles from Bashioum and King, and held on for the victory.
Przybylinski said he was disappointed that the outcome of the game hinged on an umpire's call, but his team will regroup and try to avoid such a scenario in the rest of the series.
"We'll have to come back (today) and get more runs so it doesn't come to that," he said.
