NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio -- The Swashbuckling Sons of Blackbeard are headed for a district semifinal. In a Monday matinee at North Ridgeville High School, the Pirates -- the No. 1 seed in the Northeast District -- defeated the Norton Panthers 6-1 in a quarterfinal game.
Junior left-hander Rees Heigle, who also started Rocky River's postseason opener last Wednesday, hung zeroes for six innings in the Monday triumph over 15th-seeded Norton. The Panthers -- winners of three straight games and five of their last six -- did make some noise in seventh, when they got a run off reliever Andrew Locsei. (Locsei had come on to pitch the final frame after Heigle had made a strikeout-and-walk-filled 93 pitches.) Norton strung together two singles, a walk, and a Pirate error. But the freshman left-hander wriggled away from a worse fate when he got a bases-loaded strikeout to finish the game.
Rocky River (23-5) got four runs in the bottom of the second and two more in the third. The Pirates made the most of two walks in the second, and they got a pair of two-out hits (Dan Capka, Jeff Maslar) to start the rally in the third. For the game, Maslar went 1-for-2 with a triple, a walk, and a run batted in.
Brady Patsouras (1-for-2, walk), Landon Biscardi (1-for-2, walk), and Griffin Hill (2-for-3, double) all reached base twice in the victory.
Over his six innings, Heigle yielded two hits while issuing five walks. He fanned eight. The Pirate port-sider has allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits in 13 postseason innings.
The Buccaneers outhit Norton 6-4.Paul Mattei went 2-of-4 to lead the Norton batting attack.
The Double-R now marches on to a Wednesday
Northeast 5 bracket final at the same venue. The Pirates will play the winner of Monday's No. 6 Padua/No. 9 Keystone game. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.
by Skip Snow
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