Capahas show fight in loss to Waterloo

~ Plaza Tire rallied from a six-run deficit but ultimately lost 13-9

Plaza Tire Capahas manager Jess Bolen recalled several instances during his 48 years at the helm that his team would find itself facing a large deficit and somehow be able to erase it.

So when the Capahas got behind in their game against Waterloo on Friday night at Capaha Field, it came as no surprise to Bolen that his team made a run at the Millers.

"That's the way this team's always been because I ain't going to let them quit," Bolen said. "When it's 6-0 I'm on their case, 'Hey, you've got to get a walk. You've got to get on. You've got to do this, you've got to do that.' Guys have got to believe they can come back, and we did, we just didn't have enough pitching to hold them off."

After Plaza Tire evened the score in the seventh, Waterloo's bats remained hot and the Millers secured a 13-9 victory.

Capahas center fielder Blake Slattery catches a Waterloo fly ball during the third inning Friday at Capaha Field.

The Capahas trailed 6-0 before pulling within a run in the bottom of the third inning.

They trailed the Millers 9-5 heading to the bottom of the seventh, but a leadoff triple by catcher Chase Simmons sparked a comeback inning for the Capahas.

Simmons scored on a sacrifice fly. With two outs, Laban Petzoldt doubled and Brandon Bennett reached on a close play at first on a high chopper hit to the first baseman. Both were driven in on a triple to center by Cody Heisserer to pull the Capahas within a run.

Center fielder Blake Slattery followed with a base hit to left center to plate Heisserer and even the score at 9-9.

"I was just looking for a good pitch to hit, and he threw one that I could handle," Slattery said about his game-tying hit. "I was hoping we could come back from that, but they just kept hitting. They hit well today."

The Millers, who collected 17 hits in the game, answered with three runs in the top of the eighth. After a leadoff walk and a base hit, Waterloo designated hitter Nick Dunning hit a ball that caromed off the mound for an RBI single.

After the second walk of the inning, a fielder's choice made it 11-9 and a base hit gave the Millers a three-run lead. They padded their lead with a run in the top of the ninth.

The Capahas used three pitchers in the game, which was played using aluminum bats, and Bolen said he felt they lost focus.

"What happens is when your pitcher and catcher gets disgusted with the counts and discuss the calls, it makes them lose concentration," Bolen said. "And now they come down the middle with too many pitches because they feel like they have to, then you get hurt. I think that's something that really hurt our pitching tonight is we got behind 2-0, 3-1 too many times, and good teams will kill you when you do that."

Petzoldt singled to start the bottom of the ninth and reached third on a one-out single to left center by Heisserer, but Heisserer was thrown out at second trying to stretch the hit into a double.

Slattery was walked, but a strikeout stranded him and Petzoldt to end the game.

"When Cody gets that base hit, you can't get thrown out at second because your run don't mean anything," Bolen said. "That's a no-no. It's got to be a lock. In other words, you can go in standing up. You can't make that out."

Waterloo improved to 19-3 with the win while the Capahas fell to 13-5.

Waterloo 042 100 231 -- 13 17 3

Capahas 005 000 400 -- 9 14 4

WP – Jeremy Rettig. LP – Andrew Williams. 3B – Cody Heisserer (C), Chase Simmons (C), LJ Watson (W). 2B – Heisserer (C), Laban Petzoldt (C), Watson (W). Multiple hits – Capahas: Heisserer 3-5, Simmons 3-5, Drew Morecraft 2-5, Petzoldt 2-2, Brandon Bennett 2-2. Waterloo: Jake Friederich 3-6, LJ Watson 2-6, Justin Dunning 3-5, Nick Dunning 2-4, Ethan Ruff 2-5, Eduardo Oquendo 4-4.