Hagerstown advances to state tourney

The Hagerstown Little League Majors team cleared the first hurdle in their quest to advance to the Little League World Series. They defeated New Castle by the score of 2-1 to win the District 6 title and earn the right to advance to the state tournament to be played at Lebanon. 

The boys in purple, who averaged 16 runs per game en route to the championship game, were stymied by the Green Machine, who used a strong pitching performance from Carter Silvers and solid defense to keep Hagerstown off the scoreboard for the first four innings. 

The game was actually played over two days at two different locations. The game was originally scheduled to be played in New Castle on Tuesday, July 9. The game got underway with Hagerstown going down 1, 2, 3 in the top of the first inning. New Castle had runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the first inning and an 0-1 count on Cale Walker when the game was halted at 9:25 p.m. because of lightning. Later, rain came and the game was stopped and scheduled to resume Wednesday, July 10, at Hagerstown. 

When the game resumed, Gavin Hurt was on second base, Calvin Middleton was on first base and Walker returned to the plate with an 0-1 count. Hagerstown pitcher Collin King struck him out on two pitches to end the threat. Neither team scored in the second inning before New Castle scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the third. Hudson White delivered a two-out single, moved to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a single from Kobe Lee and later scored on a wild pitch. It turned out to be the only run of the game for New Castle. 

Hagerstown tied the score in the top of the fifth inning. Joey Howard opened the inning with a double off the centerfield fence, eventually coming around to score on an RBI single from Seth Fagan to make the score 1-1. 

King, who had turned in a masterful pitching performance for Hagerstown, had to leave the game because he reached the pitch count limit and Quinn Schlotterbeck came on to pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning. After surrendering a bunt single to Cooper Rottinghaus, he mowed the next three batters down — two by strikeout. 

Neither team scored in the sixth inning, forcing an extra inning. With one out in the top of the seventh Colton Jones was hit by a pitch and eventually came around to score the go-ahead run when he stole home when New Castle tried to pick Howard off at first base. 

Schlotterbeck shut New Castle down in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the win. He struck out the first two batters he faced, surrendered a single, then caught a hard line drive to end the game. Schlotterbeck struck out five of the 12 batters he faced. 

Schlotterbeck did a good job of mixing up his pitches and baffled the New Castle hitters by following fastballs with changeups and breaking pitches.

“I pitched against them in an earlier game,” Schlotterbeck said. “I knew they were fastball hitters that do not like curve balls. We are all really excited about going to the state tournament.” 

Hagerstown manager Dave Moore said that his team took advantage of an unexpected opportunity to win the game. “When they decided to make a play to pick off our runner at first in the seventh inning, it gave us an opportunity to score the winning run. Colton Jones, one of our fastest and best baserunners, was on third and he slid in under the tag,” Moore said. “Collin (King) pitched well and kept us in the game and Quinn (Schlotterbeck) came in and nailed down the win. I thought the game would be much higher scoring, but the pitching and defense was good for both teams. We stayed with our game plan until we could find a way to win.”

Moore added that winning becomes a habit.

“The success of past Hagerstown Little League teams carries over,” Moore said. “These kids don’t get rattled. They expect to win.”

Hagerstown will face Munster Little League in their state tournament opener to be played on Thursday, July 18, at 3 p.m. at Lebanon. 

Hagerstown  0   0   0   0   1   0   1   2 

New Castle   0   0   1   0   0   0   0   1

Winning pitcher: Schlotterbeck, losing pitcher: Hurt. Hagerstown hits: Fagan, Howard, Jones, King, Jaden Wallace. New Castle hits: Hurt, Lee, AT Oakes, Rottinghaus, White