The Washington Demons got a extra inning win over Danville last night in one of their last home games of the season.
The Demons started down 1-0 after the first inning, and it stayed that way until the third when the Demons finally broke through with a three run inning. Walker Breard found his way to first and stole second to setup Blake Weidman for the RBI single, then Elijah Wood hit an RBI double to knock in Weidman, and a error on a hit by Dakota Kron led to Wood scoring.
In the fourth inning, Washington added another run, this time with Walker Breard getting on with two outs, but Blake Weidman once again drove him in on an RBI single to make it 4-1 Demons after four.
In the fifth, Elijah Wood made a highlight reel catch, tracking a short fly ball into foul territory dove to his left, made the grab and slid in like a pro. In the sixth inning, it was Danville who found a way to break through and tie up the game 4-4. The teams stayed locked through the seventh and eighth inning despite both teams having chances. In the ninth, Danville put the pressure on with a run scoring on a throw down to third on a steal that got passed Weidman and into the outfield.
Washington needed one to tie, and two to end it. Elijah Wood got on off an error and stole his way to second, Quigley reached base to put two on for Tanner Renoux, and he stepped up and hit a ball in the gap, scoring Breard and Quigley for the win.
Demon head coach Nathan Miller talked about his team stellar outfield play during their game.
“Two web gem type plays. I mean, inning enders, rally killers, deflating catches. I mean there is nothing worse than when you put a swing on the bat in the gap and you think you have two, maybe three, and the center fielder tracks it down and makes an over the head catch in stride, outstanding,” Miller said. “Elijah’s dive over there for the catch, and then Mason comes in and we slide Kron over, and he was busy in center, I think he had four or five catches and not one of them was a setup catch, he was moving all directions. Just an outstanding job by our outfield core.”
Washington suits up to play Mt. Pleasant tonight for senior night. The Demons dropped a couple of tough ones at the Panther’s the last time they faced each other. Mt. Pleasant is leading the conference, but in a tight race, a couple of games could put the Demons right back in it.
The Panthers are led at the plate by Austin Smith with a .447 average and six RBI’s, with Justin Chalupa hitting second with a .356 average. On the mound, Dustin Amos is their top arm with a 3.36 ERA, 28 strikeouts and opponents hit .256.
Miller said his team doesn’t need any more of a reason to play the Panthers, but there is a lot to this game.
“That’s enough for itself, the rivalry itself, and I told our seniors, ‘this is the the last time you will play Mt. Pleasant in any sport your entire life, so come to the field ready to go tomorrow night, and for the young guys, this is obviously a rivalry for you guys,’ but more importantly, we just want to play well. We want to show up and play our style of baseball and see what happens, and if it is a win, outstanding, but if we happen to come out on the short end, at least we know that we put our best foot forward,” Miller said.
Tonight is senior night, and the Demons will honor their seniors in Tanner Knupp, Mason Quigley, Walker Breard and Elijah Wood.
Tonight’s doubleheader starts with game one at 5:30 and game two to follow.