Billy Hurst / For The Telegraph
GODFREY — Going against one of the top pitchers in the Metro East area, Todd Haug had no choice but to send the runner even though the fly ball the Alton Redbirds wanted was shallow.
The Redbirds had just battled back against O’Fallon ace Bradley Harrison, who carried a two-run lead into the seventh inning three outs away from a regional championship until Alton battled back and infused drama into a sun-splashed field and ignited a Redbird crowd.
It wasn’t meant to be for a dramatic comeback, as Panthers left fielder Hayden Schaefer gunned down pinch-runner Matt McDonald at the plate after a flyout to end the game in O’Fallon’s dramatic 2-1 victory against the Redbirds Saturday afternoon in the Alton Class 4A Regional championship game at Alton High School.
The Redbirds (23-13) worked a run off the unflappable Harrison on a run-scoring single by Steven Pattan and had runners on first and third with one out and the left-handed Seth Boschert at the plate against the left-handed Harrison, a SIU Carbondale recruit.
Harrison worked the count to 0-2 on Boschert, who was 0-for-2 with two strikeouts. But the Alton designated hitter fought off a high delivery and lofted a fly ball towards shallow left. Instead of taking the play for granted that Alton would not send the runner, Schaefer delivered a strike that catcher Chase Hackstadt had to come down with a high throw and get McDonald trying to slide around the tag to end the game and send O’Fallon (32-5) on to the Bloomington (Illinois Wesleyan) Sectional on Wednesday against surprising Belleville West, upset Edwardsville 8-4 on Saturday to win its own regional.
“We practice it in practice, do-or-die,” Schaefer said. “I knew with it being the last out of the game that they’re definitely going to try and push it because off Brad Harrison, let’s be honest, you don’t score that many (runs). They went for it and luckily I got the throw to get it down.”
O’Fallon coach Jason Portz also called it a do-or-die situation and credited his pitcher and left fielder for executing when needed.
“Credit Bradley for competing like heck and credit Hayden Schaefer for doing an outstanding job in left field of doing what he’s asked to do in practice a million times,” Portz said. “Catch the ball, work through it and throw a dart in a do-or-die situation. Some credit has to go to our catcher there, too, because he’s got to catch that ball, he’s got to make the tag and what a great team win for our guys.
“You know they’re going to hang around any time you play a team that you’re so familiar with on a third occasion. In the game of baseball, you just don’t know what’s going to happen. … Any time you’re in a tight ballgame in the postseason, anything can happen. They were able to flip some balls out there and they took some really good at-bats late and put themselves in a position to score.”
McDonald, who was pinch-running for Aaron Bonnell after the Alton catcher singled after Rob Taul’s leadoff walk to start the seventh, came in with 26 stolen bases on the team and is arguably the fastest runner on the team. It was the first time in 20-plus innings that the Redbirds had even advanced a runner to third base against Harrison. That’s how dominant the lefty has been against the Redbirds.
“I wouldn’t change a thing,” Haug said. “The only thing I’ve asked of them all year is you buckle up your chin strap, you lace up your boots and you go to work and if you absolutely gave everything you had and you left it on the field, then we can walk away with our heads held high. I don’t know what more this group could have done. We went toe-to-toe with an outstanding team. I think that this shows that we’re an outstanding ballclub as well.
“… It had been 20 innings since we got a guy to third base on (Harrison). Part of the process of giving it yout all is not second-guessing yourself, trusting that what you do all year … the recipe of a good ballclub is you do not change what you do to fit somebody else. You do what you do and trust you do it well enough and every single ballgame we would have played this year, we’d send (McDonald) in that situation.”
O’Fallon seemed well on its way to a win after spotting Harrison with two runs, which can seem like it’s multiplied by five when he’s on the mound considering his miniature 0.34 earned-run average would attest.
Jared Dalonzo lined a RBI single to right in the third off Alton starter Jacob St. Peters (7-4) and Harrison helped his own cause with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth off reliever Sam Ballard, a lefty brought in to face the left-handed hitting Harrison after Devin Colley relieved St. Peters in the third.
But Alton would not go away quietly after putting the first two runners on against Harrison. Jacob Kanallakan, the one bat in the Alton lineup that could put the Redbirds ahead with one swing of the bat, was asked to bunt the runners into scoring position and did so before Pattan lined a first-pitch single into center against a shallow O’Fallon outfield that prevented two runs from scoring.
Harrison (12-0) had to buckle down and did.
“I just had to make a pitch,” he said. “Postseason baseball’s all about making pitches, getting hits. I thought I made a decent pitch. The kid made a decent swing on it and Hayden Schaefer made a heck of a play. He saved the game. It was an unbelievable play.”
Haug got what he wanted at the very least there, a fly ball. It just wasn’t deep enough to keep the Alton hopes alive.
“What does a coach ask of a player at that point,” Haug said. “‘Hey, let’s get the ball into the outfield.’ Why is that a crucial situation? Because the fastest guy on the field is at third base with one out. It was not a deep ball and it was really close. And quite honestly when the ball was thrown, I thought it was high. It looked high. They have to make a perfect play. Otherwise we are tied.
“We talked as a group that no matter what, we’re going to go down with our boots on and in this case, we would rather (have) that than leave the guy standing at third base.”
O’FALLON 2, ALTON 1
Alton 000 000 1 — 1 4 1
O’Fallon 001 010 x — 2 7 0
Alton (23-13) — Bonnell 2-3, Pattan 2-3 RBI. LP-St. Peters (7-4) IP-2 2/3 H-3 R-1 ER-1 BB-0 K-1.
O’Fallon (32-5) — Weiss 1-3, Dalonzo 1-3 RBI, Snyder 1-3, Harrison 1-2 HR RBI, Schaefer 2-3, Hackstadt 1-2. WP-Harrison (12-0) IP-7 H-4 R-1 ER-1 BB-2 K-8.
Reach Louie Korac at telegraphsports@hotmail.com
