By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Former St. Louis hurler Joaquin Andujar, quoted in a classic Yogi Berra-ism with a fumbled phrase, once stated “You can sum up the game of baseball in one word: Youneverknow.” That word will never be found in a dictionary. But it can be defined by the walk-off play that finished Bedford North Lawrence’s dramatic victory over Edgewood.
What started so innocently ended with a jubilant celebration. With a lot of hustle and daring, taking advantage of a misstep and missed throw, the Stars stole a 3-2 triumph on Friday night.
Cam Gates, scrambling around the bases as Edgewood’s infield got distracted and surprised, scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning. How he got there was a testament to the unpredictability of the grand ol’ game.
With one out, Gates drew a walk. Two pitches later, Grady Dalton tapped a ground ball to the right side that Edgewood first baseman Mason Marotz gloved and flipped to relief pitcher Nick Ritchey covering the bag. But Ritchey missed the base, and Dalton barreled down the line to beat the second-step attempt at recording the out.
Meanwhile, Gates was sliding into second base, in case the Mustangs went for the out at that bag. When he popped up, he glanced back to first, noticing that Ritchey and the Mustangs were stunned into momentary brain freeze by the misplay. He took off for third, startling the Edgewood fielders. When Ritchey recovered, he fired an errant throw down the left field line. Gates raced home (barely beating BNL coach Steven McNabb as he dashed to the plate from the third-base coaching box) with the deciding run, then elevated for a celebration body bump with Dalton and teammates.
That’s one way to win. You never know.
“I was just hustling to second so they couldn’t turn a double play, trying to break it up,” Gates said. “Then I jumped up and saw the pitcher was turned around. I had to think really fast.”
“Cam, just the baseball player he is, the baseball play he made, to take advantage was that was huge,” McNabb said. “We’ve been that team that’s fallen asleep after a missed call or botched play. So for us to take advantage of that was key.“
Lost in that chaos was the fact Dalton put pressure on the defense with his never-assume hustle to first.
“Grady put it in play, made it close and tough, and that’s what can happen in this game,” McNabb said. “It can go either way real fast.”
The first six innings were a classic pitching duel. Two aces hooked up as BNL left-hander Cutler Chastain worked six strong innings, striking out 12 with a blistering fastball while allowing only two hits (none until the fifth). Edgewood righty Anthony Shields was equally impressive, relying on a wicked slider to fan 10 while scattering five hits.
“They both did a phenomenal job on the mound,” Gates said. “It was a pitching duel and a matter of one play.”
BNL scored first in the first as Gates singled to left and Chastain blasted a double to deep right-center. The Stars added a run in the second on four straight two-out walks, but that inning ended when BNL’s Jett Alvey was cut down at home as a wild pitch caromed hard off the padded backstop and (unfortunately) straight back to the catcher.
From that point, runs were a premium. The Mustangs (2-4 with three straight losses) scored in the third with a walk, a fielder’s choice and a wild pitch. They pulled even in the sixth with a walk, a ground out, and a clutch two-out hit by Shields.
That set up the wild finish.
Gates and Chastain both had two hits for the Stars.
“We got better,” McNabb said. “I challenged them to play a clean game, in three phases. The pitching and defense were there, and credit their guy because he did a nice job on the mound. But I couldn’t be prouder of our guys, to find a way to win.
”We’ve played a tough schedule, and it will continue. You start looking, getting in your own head about where we can find the wins. So all of them are important.”
“We needed this big time,” Gates said. “We knew it would be a big boost.”
BNL (4-4) will host Seymour on Monday.
