By: Deb Wallace

Oregon, OH – The Monarchs Blue team faced off against the Columbus Sharks Black team on Saturday, June 21. They completed three and a half innings before being rained out in the bottom of the fourth inning with the Monarchs in the lead. It is unknown if this game will be completed in the future and the second game of the day will be made up. On Sunday, June 22 the Monarchs played the Columbus Sharks Blue team. This time the weather held off long enough to get both games in.

In game one all of the runs scored came from the Sharks. Nick Picciano was the starting pitcher for this game. He pitched five innings and faced two batters in the sixth before Dustin Zizelman came on in relief. Picciano gave up three runs, walked three and struck out six. Zizelman pitched an inning and a third allowing one run, walking one and striking out two. Austin Ritson pitched to two batters to finish off the seventh, forcing the final batter to ground into a double play.

The Monarchs did get on base during the game, getting hits from Phil Reed, Cody McPherson, Chris Pfund, and Brad Timofeev. Ritson, Casey Kahsen, Ross Hartwig, and Ryan Price also got on base through drawing walks. Even with all these guys on base, things just did not go the Monarchs way and the lost the first game 4-0.

The second game of the day started out much like the first game with the Sharks getting 3 runs in the top of the second inning. The Monarchs came back scoring one in the bottom of the second on a solo home run by Phil Reed. The Sharks answered with another run of their own in the top of the third. The Monarchs then scored another run in the bottom of the fourth after Cody McPherson walked and was moved to third on a double by Austin Ritson. The Sharks pitcher tried to pick Ritson off at second and threw it wide, and on that play McPherson runs to the plate. The Sharks added one more run in the top of the fifth to put them ahead 5-2.

Chris Bassitt started on the mound for the Monarchs and gave up all five of the Sharks runs. He also walked three and struck out eight. McPherson came in to pitch late in the fifth and finished the game allowing no runs and walking none.

The Monarchs came alive in their half of the seventh inning. Ritson started the inning by drawing a walk and was followed by a single from Mike Nyitrai. Both runners advanced on a passed ball by the Sharks catcher. Scott Slygh walked to load the bases before a single from Ryan Price drove in one run. Ross Hartwig finished the game with a three run double that gave the Monarchs a 6-5 win over the Sharks.