11th Region baseball: ‘It was so clutch.’ Sayre scores late to knock out Lafayette, 2-1
Sayre freshman Brody Beall did not know he would be called on to pinch hit in the top of the seventh inning with a go-ahead runner on second base and no one out in the Spartans’ 11th Region Tournament semifinal against Lafayette on Tuesday night.
But there were a couple of important things he did know: what was coming and what he was supposed to do with it.
“I knew he was going to throw a first-pitch fastball, and my coach said, ‘Jump on the ball.’” Beall said. “And I’m like, ‘All right.’ And then I just hit it.”
Beall lined a single to right field, scoring Dirk Visser from second base to break a 1-1 tie that held since the first inning.
The Spartans (20-9) went on to win 2-1 over the Generals at Great Crossing High School and were scheduled to face Madison Central (27-7-1) in the 11th Region championship game there again on Wednesday night.
Visser doubled to lead off the seventh inning. Both Visser and Beall jumped on first-pitch fastballs by Lafayette starter Carter Owens, who had been cruising with eight strikeouts and five scoreless innings after giving up a run on a walk and three singles in the first.
“It was so clutch,” Sayre Coach Kevin Clary said of Beall’s hit. “We had a talk with the whole team yesterday at practice and making sure they knew that, ‘Hey, when it’s your time and when your number’s called, you’ve got to be locked in and ready to go, because you’re never gonna know when I’m going to call your number.”
Beall, a starter much of the year until the recent return from injury by junior infielder Grady Johnson, said he was surprised to be put in that spot considering his struggles at the plate, lately.
“I was not in the zone and then I just, I don’t know, I just came up clutch. It was surprising because I was kind of in the middle of a slump,” Beall said. “I guess I got out of it.”
In the bottom of the seventh, Lafayette threatened with its own leadoff double by Braden Kettenring. But Sayre starter Raymond Saatman knuckled down and struck out the next three batters to finish the game. The junior UK commit finished with 11 strikeouts.
“I knew this was the bottom of the seventh. This was it,” Saatman said. “They had the bottom of the lineup coming up and my plan was just to go at them. They didn’t get the bunt down early, so I went at them with my two-pitch mix — fastball, slider — and got the job done.”
The game marked some redemption for Saatman, who lost to Lafayette at this same stage last season.
“That was a huge game for me. Last year, we played them in the region semis and I pitched and they got the better of me,” he said. “So, to be able to come back and win today, it was really good.”
The win marked Saatman’s eighth this year with only one loss. The run he allowed in the first inning was unearned due to an error. He gave up three hits and walked one. After the seventh-inning double, Clary visited the mound.”
“In my mind he’s one of the top pitchers in the state,” Clary said. “And I told him that on the mound. I said, ‘Look, there’s nobody I’d rather have on the mound than you right here.’ I said, ‘Keep your composure, do what you’ve been taught. Maintain your focus, execute your pitch.’”
Clary likes to say his team never makes anything easy. Things certainly didn’t look easy for the Spartans on Tuesday, but they pulled it out and now have a chance to earn the first 11th Region baseball title in school history.
“To take our program to the next level, you have to learn how to win games like that — when you don’t play your best,” Clary said. “And we did not play our best today and we found a way to win.”
This story was originally published May 25, 2022 at 7:57 AM.
