Alliance, OH - The weather report was grim, but it seemed as though it would be light enough to play through, so the Aviators took the field shortly before 5:00 pm as regularly scheduled. Unfortunately, a clap of thunder was heard and a 30 minute mandatory delay halted everything in its tracks.
In a game of momentum, sometimes it's not your opponent that can sandbag your mojo, but mother nature.
It was clear from the start that both teams would need a few innings to settle into a groove after being banished to the dugouts for 30 minutes while a light sprinkle fell.
In the top of the 1st, Aviator starter Val Fisk had a tough time finding his groove, walking the first two Edgewood Warriors to start the evening. Edgewoods Alex Sperduto slapped an RBI single to get the Warriors on the board. Fisk was able to settle in and escape with no further damage.
The Aviators answered in similar fashion, with K'Vaughn Davis and Brady White drawing walks to lead off the bottom half. Bo Davis would send a f grounder to the hole at short and third to bring Davis in to score, with Lincoln Reese following with a sacrifice fly to allow White to scamper home for the 2-1 lead. The Aviators wouldn't relinquish the lead the rest of the evening.
Following a quiet top half of the 2nd, the Aviators grew their lead by 1 in the bottom half with DeAngelo Fisk coming around following a lead off walk on a fielders choice off the bat of White.
Fisk ran into trouble in the top half of the 3rd, leading to a pitching change and DeAngelo Fisk taking over on the bump. The younger Fisk would allow a run in on a wild pitch and later on a hit batter with the bases loaded, knotting the game at 3.
Again, Alliance would rally to bring in a run to take the lead, this time for good. This time it was Michael Blackwell bringing Sam Gress in on a sacrifice fly to left field.
DeAngelo Fisk would settle in and put up a 0 in a rather quiet top of the 4th. Gress and Fisk would each have RBI singles in the bottom half to extend the Alliance lead to 6-3.
The Warriors would get to Fisk in the 5th, with Mason Feather roping a 2 RBI single to left to cut the Aviator advantage to 1. The Aviators would bat around in the bottom of the 5th, plating 3 to extend their advantage. Driving the runners across were Bo Davis, Reese and Fisk.
Bo Davis would head to the hill for the 6th, retiring the Warriors in order. Edgewood would return the favor in the bottom half, holding the Aviators scoreless for the only time all evening.
Davis would run into some trouble in the 7th, but only yielded one on a Feather RBI single. The 9-6 victory advances the Aviators to the Districts, where they will square off with the winner of the Poland Seminary / Youngstown Ursuline sectional final that was postponed Wednesday and will be played Thursday evening. The district semifinal game is scheduled to take place in Struthers on Monday afternoon with a 4:00 pm first pitch.