SHIRLEY — Saturday’s Macintosh League Babe Ruth matinee at Burt Coffman Field had a little bit of everything. Unbearable heat, confusing calls, shaky defense and timely hitting were the main themes of the day. It was Ayer-Shirley that controlled the timely hitting, scoring in five of the six innings they hit, en route to a 7-3 victory over visiting Townsend-Ashby.
Early on, it was Townsend-Ashby that seized control of the game. David Hurley led-off with a single, before taking third, when Andrew Eudo reached on an error. Sam Doiron then delivered a double, scoring both runners, before coming around to score on an error to make it 3-0. Titans’ starter Christian Hoffman eventually settled down, leaving the bases loaded by recording a pop-out and ground-out to limit the damage.
In the home half of the frame, Ayer-Shirley answered back with two runs. With one out, Austin Schmalz reached on an error, stole second and scored on an Elrick Cahill single. A pair of steals and an error eventually brought Cahill home, cutting the advantage to 3-2.
Hoffman showed a sign of things to come, working a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the second. The crafty lefty mixed speeds beautifully, retiring 12 of the next 13 batters he faced, keeping Townsend-Ashby off the scoreboard.
The Titans came up with another pair of runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead for good. Steven Lawton led-off the inning with a double, stole third and scored on an errant throw. With two outs, Nick Richard and Casey White reached on consecutive errors. Lincoln Spencer then lofted a fly ball to left that was dropped, allowing Richard to score to make it a 4-3 game.
Ayer-Shirley continued to take advantage of the Townsend-Ashby defense, which committed nine errors on the day by scoring unearned runs in the fourth and fifth. Kyle Clapper did the honors in the fourth, when he scored on a throwing error, and Cahill scored in the fifth on a misplayed ground ball to extend the edge to 6-3.
A single unearned run in the sixth kept Townsend-Ashby within striking distance. Collin Lamar reached when a pop-up was dropped, took second on an error, stole third and scored on a fly out to make it a two-run contest.
It took the Titans just four batters to get the run back. Clapper, Hoffman and Richard singled to lead things off to load the bases. White delivered a sharp single to left past a drawn in infield to make it 7-4. Townsend-Ashby’s Nate Foster did a great job limiting the damage, getting an out at the plate, strike-out and ground-out to keep it a three-run game.
In the seventh, Ayer-Shirley called on Michael Tonelli and he delivered. The hard-throwing right-hander dashed thoughts of a comeback by over-powering Townsend-Ashby, striking out the side to seal the deal and move the Titans to 8-0 on the season.
