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‘Long, bumpy road’: Beverly/Lowell claims Region 4 title

By Jordan Holland 7 min read

MARIETTA -- Fighting its way back through the loser's bracket of the Region 4 Tournament, Beverly/Lowell Post 389/750 exhausted every resource at its disposal this week.

The result is another district championship, as Beverly/Lowell defeated Cambridge/Belle Valley Post 84/641 twice Saturday at Pioneer Park.

"It was bumpy at times," said Beverly/Lowell head coach Todd Engle, who underwent surgery Friday morning but still coached all four games over the weekend. "This tournament here, we were really, really tired and we had to find some guts to get us through. It was a team effort all the way. All 18 of us."

After losing to St. Clairsville Post 159 on Wednesday, Beverly/Lowell faced a long, challenging road to defending its district title.

All Post 389/750 had to do was:

Take care of business Thursday against Steubenville -- check.

Beat a solid Marietta squad and then get redemption against St. Clairsville on Friday -- check.

Knock off a well-rested Cambridge/Belle Valley team twice on Saturday -- check.

A lot of legion baseball teams would not have the pitching depth to win four games in two days against such high-caliber competition, but Beverly/Lowell isn't most teams.

"Everywhere we went this year, including the beach -- everybody threw their dude at us," Engle said. "These guys, I don’t know if people realize what they accomplished. A lot of times it looked herky jerky, but we got everybody’s best shot. A lot of people that beat us would hoot and holler like they’d won their state tournament, you know, since we’re defending state champions. I thought this team all year long overcame that adversity."

Now, Beverly/Lowell is headed to another state tournament, which begins Friday at Beavers Field in Lancaster.

"We took the long, bumpy road this year," Engle said.

"I’m telling you, man. The more you get to know this crew, they’re just resilient. A lot of things don’t go our way, but they just continue to go and go and go. As a coaching staff, we leaned on each other. (Friday), with my health issues, I leaned on them. Extremely proud of it."

Beverly/Lowell (28-9) found itself in a 3-0 hole right off the bat in game one. The first four Cambridge/Belle Valley batters reached base, with Tyler Harrell's single bringing in the game's first run. Sam Wayble plated another run on a groundout and Javon Lowery later scored on a passed ball to stake Post 84/641 to an early 3-0 lead.

Post 389/750 was unfazed and immediately responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first.

With the bases loaded and nobody out, Cambridge/Belle Valley traded two outs for a run as Wyatt Siley grounded into a double play to make it 3-1. Easton Walker, who singled earlier in the inning, eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-2.

After a 45-minute weather delay put the second inning on pause, Garrett Carpenter greeted starting pitcher Jenner Burge with a double. Mason Gregg brought Carpenter in with a single to stretch the Cambridge/Belle Valley lead back to two.

By the end of the second inning, that lead was gone.

Beverly/Lowell tallied four runs in the bottom of the second to take control. Walker's sacrifice fly and Siley's RBI single tied it at 4-all. Dominic Fry's RBI single put Post 389/750 in front and JR Curry's bases-loaded walk made it 6-4.

From there, Beverly/Lowell tacked on a run apiece in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Bradford's RBI, Jack McCurdy's RBI groundout and Fry's bases-loaded free pass extended the advantage to 9-4.

Meanwhile, Burge kept the Post 84/641 bats quiet. A two-out walk to Dakoda Rich in the sixth-inning was Cambridge/Belle Valley's first base-runner since the second inning, but he was stranded at first base.

Kyler Starr pitched in relief in the seventh and gave up a run on Austin Warner's groundout, but the next batter popped out to force another contest.

Burge went six innings, walking two and striking out seven to earn the win. Chase Miller pitched 1 2-3 innings for Cambridge/Belle Valley and took the loss. Sam Wayble pitched 4 1-3 innings of relief. The two Post 84/641 hurlers issued a combined eight walks.

Gregg was 3 for 4 to lead all hitters in the game. Walker and Bradford had two hits apiece for Beverly/Lowell.

In the winner-take-all game, it was Post 389/750 that jumped out to the hot start. With two outs, Beverly/Lowell had seven straight batters reach base as a part of a five-run inning.

Fry had an RBI double and McCurdy singled in a run, and after Duskey's grounder to short resulted in a two-run error, Starr singled in a run on a bunt to make it 5-0.

"We knew that as long as we put up some runs, our pitching would keep us in every game today," Bradford said.

Leading off for Cambridge/Belle Valley, Carpenter took Jake Laswell's second pitch of the game and launched it over the left field fence for a leadoff home run.

Laswell, though, brushed it off and gave up just one run the rest of the way. He went 6 2-3 innings before reaching his pitch limit and exiting to hugs from teammates and a loud ovation from the fans in attendance. Fry came on in relief and got the final out. The traditional celebratory dogpile ensued in the infield as Beverly/Lowell secured its 17th district championship in Engle's 23 years at the helm.

"They never get old," Bradford said. "I'll take as many as I can get."

Bradford finished the day 5 for 6 at the plate with three runs scored and a pair of doubles. As a team, Beverly/Lowell had 10 hits in the first game and 12 in the second.

"We definitely needed a day like this," Bradford said. "The whole tournament felt like our bats were a little cold. Today they started to heat up, which is good going into the state tournament, for sure."

Conner Croy pitched 4 1-3 innings and took the mound loss for Post 84/641, which despite the two losses is also state bound. Gregg pitched 2 2-3 innings of relief.

McCurdy was 3 for 4 with three runs scored and two RBIs in game two. Fry was 2 for 3 with two runs scored and two RBIs.

"The kids knew that if we want to be a contender for next week, we're going to have to pick it up offensively a little bit," Engle said. "I thought we had some really quality at-bats, moved the baseball and got some two-out hits. I've always said two-out hits win championships, and we got several today. Couldn't be happier."

Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@newsandsentinel.com.

At Pioneer Park

Region 4 Tournament Final

Game 1

Beverly/Lowell (Post 389/750) 9, Cambridge/Belle Valley (Post 84/641) 5

C 310 000 1 -- 5 6 3

B 241 110 x -- 9 10 0

WP: Jenner Burge 6 IP, 2 BB, 7 SO

Kyler Starr 1 IP, 1 BB, 0 SO

LP: Chase Miller 1.2 IP, 4 BB, 0 SO

Sam Wayble 4.1 IP, 4 BB, 3 SO

Cambridge/Belle Valley hitting: Garrett Carpenter 1-2, 2B, 3 Rs; Mason Gregg 3-4, R, RBI; Javon Lowery 1-3, R; Tyler Harrell 1-3, RBI; Wayble RBI; Austin Warner RBI

Beverly/Lowell hitting: Cam Sidwell 1-4, R; Easton Walker 2-3, 2 Rs, RBI; Kainan Bradford 2-3, R, RBI; Wyatt Siley 1-4, R, RBI; Grady Hesson 1-2; Dominic Fry 1-2, RBI; JR Curry 2 RBIs; Wade Duskey 1-4, 2B, 2 Rs; Jack McCurdy 1-3, 2 Rs, RBI

Game 2

Beverly/Lowell (Post 389/750) 9, Cambridge/Belle Valley (Post 84/641) 2

B 510 020 1 -- 9 12 1

C 100 010 0 -- 2 8 1

WP: Jake Laswell 6.2 IP, 2 BB, 2 SO

Fry .1 IP, 0 BB, 0 SO

LP: Conner Croy 4.1 IP, 1 BB BB, 0 SO

Gregg 2.2 IP, 1 BB, 1 SO

Beverly/Lowell (28-9) hitting: Sidwell 1-5, RBI; Walker 0-4; Bradford 3-3, 2 2Bs, 2 Rs; Hesson 1-4, R; Fry 2-3, 2B, 2 Rs, 2 RBIs; Curry 0-2, R; McCurdy 3-4, 3 Rs, 2 RBIs; Duskey 1-2; Kyler Starr 1-2, RBI

Cambridge/Belle Valley (19-13) hitting: Carpenter 2-4, HR, 2 Rs, RBI; Harrell 1-2, RBI; Jace McQueen 2-3; Braylon Lowery 1-3; Jackson Cabot 1-3; Warner 1-1

Next game: Beverly/Lowell vs. TBD, Friday at Beavers Field in Lancaster (State Tournament)

Starting at /week.