POTOMAC PARK — Cumberland Rotary defeated the Cresaptown Eagles in a barnburner to punch their ticket in the Hot Stove Junior Division championship.
Rotary held off a late Cresaptown rally to win 16-12 at Memorial Field on Friday and sweep both games of their three-game semifinal series.
“I don’t know if you want to call it baseball,” said Rotary head coach A.J. Zembower. “I think our bats were the biggest part of tonight, I think we only had one error in the field there late in the game, so that’s big too.
“One error and, I mean, 16 runs helps. We’re starting to catch our hot bats finally.”
The two teams combined to score 28 runs on only 11 hits in the game. The teams drew a combined 30 walks and four hit batters, while also combining for five errors in the game.
After both sides plated a run apiece in the first inning, Rotary scored four in the top of the second. Channing Logsdon had a two-run single in the inning.
Cresaptown responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning, though it should have been more; all seven batters in the inning walked and reached base safely, and all three outs were made by runners attempting to advance on wild pitches.
The score remained 5-3 until the bottom of the fourth inning, when Cresaptown used a three-run inning to take a 6-5 lead.
From there, however, it would be all Rotary. Rotary scored four in the fifth, six in the sixth, and one in the seventh to plate 11 unanswered runs.
In Rotary’s six-run sixth, two runs were scored on a Daulton Harper two-run triple, two runs scored on wild pitches, one on a balk and one on a fielder’s choice.
Trailing 16-6 in the bottom of the seventh, Cresaptown made the final inning interesting. Though it would prove to be too little, too late, Cresaptown scored six runs in the seventh, with four coming from bases-loaded walks, leaving the final score at 16-12.
Rotary scored 16 runs on seven hits. The team drew eight walks and had three batters hit by pitches. Five players came around to score at least two runs in the victory.
Harper led Rotary’s offense, collecting two hits, two RBIs and three runs. Logsdon had a hit, three RBIs and a run.
Logsdon started on the mound for Rotary and received a no-decision. He lasted 2 2/3 innings, surrendering three runs on one hit and nine walks. He struck out four.
Wyatt Twigg and Harper were next in relief for Rotary. Harper was credited with the win. Jarred Zembower and Isaiah Welsh combined to finish the seventh inning on the mound.
Cresaptown drew 22 walks as a team. Every hitter that the team used recorded a walk, with eight batters recording at least two.
Braeden Laffey was Cresaptown’s offensive leader, accounting for two of the team’s four hits, three RBIs, two runs and two walks. Eli McKenzie had a hit, three runs and two walks, while Noah Dicken had a hit, two runs and two walks.
Dalton Evans started on the mound for Cresaptown and did not receive a decision. He pitched five innings, giving up nine runs on five hits and two walks while striking out seven. Nate Cecil and Jaxson Smearman combined to pitch the final two innings, with Cecil taking the loss.
Rotary will face Outdoor Power in a three-game Junior Division championship series. Game 1 starts at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Memorial Field.