Crusaders' rotation in good position heading into title game

~ Saxony Lutheran plans to start its ace against Kelly.

CHARLESTON -- Saxony Lutheran senior pitcher Garrett Fritsche entered his team's district semifinal contest against Charleston on Tuesday knowing that if he pitched a complete-game victory, then the Crusaders would have ace Chris Roth fully rested and ready to go for the district title game today.

Saxony Lutheran coach Paul Sander was prepared to use Roth if needed, but Fritsche made sure that did not happen.

Fritsche struggled during the first two innings, giving up two runs and four hits. He even walked in one run. But the senior hurler found his groove in the third inning and shut out Charleston's lineup the rest of the game. Fritsche tossed a complete game as Saxony won 8-2.

"I knew for us to get to the game tomorrow where we want to be [with the rotation], I would have to go the whole game," Fritsche said. "The whole game I felt good, so I didn't really think about coming out at all even when I was in trouble."

Saxony Lutheran (21-3) will play Kelly in the Class 2 District 3 title game at Charleston High School today at 5 p.m.

Fritsche was helped by a strong defense, especially Bryant Steffens at shortstop.

Steffens typically plays left field. But whenever Fritsche pitches, Steffens moves to shortstop, the position that Fritsche plays whenever he is not pitching.

Steffens made seven assists and helped turn double plays in the sixth and seventh innings. He also made a nice play on a grounder where he ranged to his right, fielded and fired a strong off-balance throw to first base to record an out in the third inning.

"I love playing it," Steffens said about shortstop. "It's fun. You get involved in the game a lot and I just love playing short or the infield, wherever coach puts me. ... You don't hold anything back now. This is districts. You have to go all out all the time. Garrett pitched a heck of a game and I told him that he needed to put the ball in play and let them hit it when we were up six runs and not worry about the runners and just get outs. And that's what he did. He let them put it in play."

The Saxony hitters jumped all over Charleston starter Eric Rolwing, scoring three runs in the first and five in the second to take an 8-2 lead after two innings.

"We just really put the bat on the ball and made their defense work," Steffens said. "We hit the ball well today."

Sander said he was prepared to use Roth if needed.

"We were going to do whatever we needed to do to win the game today," Sander said. "We don't worry about tomorrow. That's been our motto as a team all year, whether we're playing the St. Louis Cardinals or the worst team in area. We don't look ahead. We play the team of the day."

With that said, Sander put his team in a good position to win the district title game today because of the way he has used his pitching staff this week. Sander went with his No. 3 pitcher Steffens in the first round. And with Fritsche hurling all seven against Charleston, Sander was able to save Roth.

"You're always at the risk of getting beat," Sander said. "And it's one game and you're out, but we decided it was worth the risk in our first game and Bryant throws a shutout. And we really feel like we almost have two No. 1s because Fritsche is 8-0 and Roth is 8-1. So it's hard to distinguish which one is No. 1. Matter of fact, we almost had a coin flip before this game today [to decide] who pitches. We feel good about anyone of our three, but we took a risk by doing it the way we did it. Hopefully, it will pay off."

Meanwhile, Kelly used its top two pitchers, Levi Felter and Ryan Essner, in the first two rounds, so it's unclear who will start against the Hawks.

Felter and Essner each tossed seven innings during their starts this week.

Charleston 110 000 0 -- 2 9 1

Saxony 350 000 x -- 8 8 1

WP -- Garrett Fritsche, 8-0. LP -- Eric Rolwing. 2B -- Bret Steffens (SL). Multiple hits -- Saxony: Bryant Steffens 2-3; Charleston: James Naile 2-4, Zachary Rowland 2-4, Jason Showmaker 2-3. Record -- Saxony -- 21-3.