SC overcomes 7-run deficit to capture crown

Updated: May 30, 2011 9:49PM

UNION MILLS — The small town of Union Mills was on the verge of eruption. 

Fire trucks immediately lined the road adjacent to the baseball diamond at South Central. Soon to follow, in a procession, was the bus full of energized ballplayers and, of course, their fans. Yes, the community pride was resonating.

And the Satellites baseball team provided just the moment to celebrate. After trailing 7-0 in its hosted event, SC rallied to win the Class 1A sectional 8-7 over Triton. It’s their third consecutive crown.

Completely drained is the best way to describe Satellites coach Ron King after a full day. To make it to the title game, the Satellites (13-11-1) first defeated Westville 3-2 in a 10 a.m. semifinal.

“Man, I tell you what, I am exhausted,” a sun-burned King said. “It’s going to be an exciting week around South Central.”

Not only was it a blistering hot Memorial Day with a temperatures of 90 degrees, but the Satellites gave King a scare against the Trojans, who beat Marquette 5-4 in the other semifinal.

Eight Triton (12-13) batters came to the plate in the top of the first. During that span were three hits, two errors, two walks, three steals and four runs. Then following the exit of starter Ben Rosebaum after 2/3 of the first inning, the Trojans scored three more runs (one unearned), on three hits, off reliever Dan Snyder in the third. In the meantime, the Satellites had only two hits.

But SC’s title hopes received a huge boost in the bottom of the fourth when Triton committed three consecutive errors, followed by a wild pitch on a dropped third strike. Three Satellite runs scored, one of them on a double by Austin Hanna.

“It helped a lot, the whole team we feed off energy,” said Snyder, a senior, who clamped down to allow only one hit over the last four innings. “They made errors and we fed off that.”

Amplifying the adrenaline was a pinch-hit, home run to left field, off Adam Clindaniel’s bat in the sixth. The sophomore was the first to face reliever Mackenzie Ullery. His first varsity homer brought in three runs and lowered the deficit to one, before the tying tally happened on an error (Triton had seven miscues).

“I just wanted to get on base, anyway possible,” he said.

With two outs, Clindaniel reached second in his next appearance with a single and an error, in the seventh. From there, Hanna singled in the clutch.

“(King) just said, ‘keep your head on the ball and keep your weight back‘,” the freshman said of his first walk-off play.

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