Pemberville shortstop Kale Wilkins, who went 4-for-4 at the plate, delivers a throw to first for an out in the third inning of Sunday’s loss to Findlay in the American Legion district championship round. (Nicholas Huenefeld | Sentinel-Tribune)
By Nicholas Huenefeld
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
PEMBERVILLE — The Pemberville Post 183 team suffered a 6-1 defeat to Findlay Post 3 in the championship round of the American Legion district tournament at Chopper Schmeltz Field on Sunday.
Despite the loss, the Steam recorded its best postseason finish since 2019.
“I’m just proud of these guys,” Pemberville head coach Jacob McNulty said. “I told the baseball committee guys last night … we had to forfeit out of this (last year) because we didn’t have enough guys.
“And to be playing for a district championship today just shows how much they bought into what I was trying to get them to do. I’m proud of them.”
Drew Tucker paced Pemberville’s offense with a 4-for-4 attack that included two doubles and a stolen base.
“(Drew) is just a great all-around player,” McNulty said. “He can do pretty much everything I need to. He loves putting the ball in play and being aggressive.”
Outside of Tucker, Pemberville managed just two other hits but had plenty of offensive opportunities due to four walks and a pair of hit batters.
The Steam left a total of nine players on base, highlighted by regrettable finishes to the first and second innings.
After Findlay scored three runs off Pemberville starter Chase Dussel in the top half of the first, Kale Wilkins drew a one-out walk in the bottom half. Tucker then roped his first double to right center, but Wilkins was thrown out at home trying to score on the play.
In the second, Pemberville loaded the bases with no outs on a single and two walks, but a strikeout, a force out at home and a groundout ended a scoreless frame.
“We had to change our approach again,” McNulty said. “We got a little aggressive (in favorable counts) and probably swung at pitches that weren’t really ours. After two walk-off wins yesterday, they were a little jacked up. They wanted to put the ball in play.”
In the fifth, Tristan Schuerman doubled to lead off the inning, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single from Tucker for Pemberville’s lone run.
Dussell went the first 5+ innings for the Steam, striking out three while allowing six runs. He stranded the bases load in the fifth, which was his final full inning.
Landon Reiter tossed a scoreless final two innings, stranding a runner at second with no outs in the sixth and escaping a runners on second and third jam with no outs in the seventh.
“(Findlay) is a great team that just made plays when they needed to,” McNulty said. “We kept fighting and were never really out of it, but they made the plays when they needed to.”
Findlay’s victory was extra sweet for them as they snapped a streak of four consecutive seasons of runner-up finishes at the district tournament. They now advance to the state tournament at Beavers Field in Lancaster, Ohio July 26-30.
