Kelly walk-off home run highlights B-T regional path, season ends in Pittsville

A walk-off home run allowed the Blair-Taylor baseball team to play for another day, but its season came to an end with a regional final loss last Wednesday.

The Wildcats were stuck in a nailbiter against Port Edwards last week Tuesday. Through eight innings, neither team had scored a run and they combined for just three hits. The fourth hit of the game was one that ended it as B-T’s Peyton Kelly connected on a 0-2 pitch, launching it over the fence for a walk-off home run. 

That win took its toll on the Wildcats, however. The team had to use two pitchers and it fell behind Pittsville early the next day. The Wildcats rallied late, but it wasn’t enough as the season ended with an 8-3 loss.

The Wildcats tied with Eleva-Strum atop the Dairyland Conference and finished with a 19-4 record. 

B-T 1 Port Edwards 0

When a WIAA Division Four regional semifinal playoff game at Blair-Taylor High School crept into extra innings last Tuesday, B-T baseball coach Jesse Lien continued to spout the same message to his team.

“We just need one,” he said whenever his team walked into the dugout for their turn at the plate against sixth-seeded Port Edwards.

Peyton Kelly took his coach’s advice literally for the third-seeded Wildcats.

Kelly smashed a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game and advance his team to the regional final on Wednesday.

“You just talk about finding a way to scratch out a run somehow. If it comes from a bunt and a bad throw or a big fly, it doesn’t matter,” Lien said. “I told them all it takes is getting a guy on and getting one. We didn’t get a guy on, but we still got one. Payton was swinging out of his shoes on that one.”

Both teams saw strong pitching and defense in the game. 

Tavian Shramek allowed a single hit in six innings of work, striking out 13 Port Edwards batters in the process. Brady Thompson closed the game by allowing no hits and throwing one strikeout.

The visitors were having their own defensive success — Kelly, who hit 2-for-4 with a double and the home run, was the only player from either team to finish with multiple hits.

Kelly said he was aware the pitchers on both sides were playing well, so he tried to stay in the moment and focus on finding a pitch he liked. He got that in the ninth inning.

“I was jogging around first and I looked up to see the umpire waving his hand around, and that’s when I knew,” he said.

Lien said the sound of the ball of Kelly’s bat gave him confidence that the ball had a chance to leave the field as it headed for a gap in the outfield.

“Somewhere along the line in any tournament run you have a game like this. There’s always a close one with a hold-your-breath moment,” Lien said, “and thank god we’re on this side of it and get to live on for another day.”

Pittsville 8 B-T 3

The Wildcats missed a chance to take an early lead and then fell behind. 

B-T loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first inning, but consecutive strikeouts ended the threat. Pittsville (23-3 before Tuesday’s sectional round) didn’t miss its chance. A one-out double came around to score on a single. After a walk and another single, a hit brought two more runs home to put the Panthers ahead, 3-0.

Two more Pittsville runs scored in the second as the Panthers had two doubles and took advantage of an error. Another double and two straight singles put the team ahead 7-0 in the third. 

B-T showed some life in the fourth as Ryan Flynn and Kole Trapp hit consecutive one-out singles. Flynn scored on an error, but Trapp was stranded on second when two strikeouts ended the inning. 

The Panthers got that run back on a walk with the bases loaded in the fifth.

Kelly doubled in two runs in the top of the seventh, but that’s as close as B-T would get.

Flynn took the loss as he recorded two outs in the first inning before being replaced by Jackson Shramek. Kelly pitched the last two innings of the game. The three B-T pitchers allowed 11 hits and four walks while striking out eight.

The Wildcats had a difficult time putting the ball in play at the plate, striking out 15 times. The team had six hits as Kelly and Flynn both had two.