Midland Explorers’ pitcher Don Scott started for the dugout, thinking he struck out a batter to end the seventh inning.
But the pitch was called a ball, and the batter ended up walking.
The next batter, Colby Beierle, blasted a two-run home run to give the Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) Loggers a dramatic 4-2 win in Midland’s second game of the International Softball Congress World Tournament on Monday at Currie Stadium.
“That’s a heartbreaker there,” Explorers’ manager Gregg Sauve said. “We didn’t swing the bat like we should. We had way too many strikeouts, but we (also gave up) two, two-run homers and it was just two pitches, and it breaks our backs a little bit.”
What made the loss more excruciating was that the Explorers thought they were out of the seventh inning and headed to extra innings.
“The last one’s really bad because we had the first two outs and we thought we had a strikeout there that was called ball three and then (Scott) ended up walking him,” Sauve said. “We had two outs with nobody on and then there’s a two-run home run. It’s a heartbreaker, but we didn’t hit either. It was a well-pitched game on either side except for two pitches.”
But the Explorers aren’t done in the ISC World Tournament.
They head to the losers’ bracket and play at 3 p.m. today at Currie Stadium against the Denmark (Wis.) Circle Tap Dukes.
“It’s two years in a row that it’s happened to us,” Sauve said of losing the second game of the tournament. “We put ourselves in a hole. We have two of the best pitchers here. Our team is a veteran team for the most part and they’ve been in these situations. Now, you just play ball.”
Like Sunday’s 5-0 tournament-opening victory, the Explorers began with the lead Monday.
Leadoff hitter and shortstop Dan Loney, after crushing the first pitch foul, followed it up by hitting the second pitch over the centerfield fence to give the Explorers a 1-0 lead.
The lead lasted until the fourth inning, when the Loggers went ahead 2-1 on a two-run homer off Explorers’ starting pitcher Grant Patterson, who threw four innings, allowing just two hits and striking out five.
The Explorers fought back in the next inning to tie it. Kyle Beane started the fifth off with a single. After Catlin Porter pinch ran for Beane and took second on a passed ball, Shea Bryant came through with an RBI single to centerfield to make it 2-2.
“When they took the lead in the fourth and we came up in the fifth, we battled back and tied it up and got that momentum going again, but we just couldn’t get over that hump,” Sauve said.
Scott (1-1) relieved Patterson in the fifth and held the Loggers at bay with help from his defense. Steve Horning at second base saved a sure run in the sixth inning for the Explorers, gloving a hard-hit ball with two outs and a runner on second for an inning-ending groundout. Scott got two quick outs in the seventh before issuing a walk and the home run.
Loggers’ pitcher Dean Holoien was impressive in the circle, piling up 18 strikeouts over seven innings.
“Dan Loney led off with a home run and everyone was really pumped up, but (Holoien) threw a great ball game against us, too,” Sauve said. “He is a great thrower. He was really tough tonight.”
Eddy Ketelhut added two hits for the Explorers. Adam LaLonde had a long fly ball to the fence in centerfield in the sixth inning, but it fell just short.
“We had a lot of strikeouts,” Sauve added. “We had guys on a couple of times with just one out and then we had back-to-back (strikeouts). That’s tough to swallow, but it’s a long road back now. We’ll battle back and see what we can get. We have the pitching, we have the players, and we’ll see how far we can go.”
