Minford Rallies for District Baseball Championship Win Over Zane Trace

Presented By Scioto Valley Dumpsters, LTD

The Division 3 District Baseball Championship goes to the (18-8) Minford Falcons as they rally from a 3-1 deficit to upset SVC Champ (24-4) Zane Trace, 5-3 at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe.

Zane Trace built a 3-1 lead with single runs in the first, third and fourth innings. Minford had a run in the fourth, two in the sixth, then scored two more in the seventh to take a 5-3 lead.

1st inning: Zane Trace’s Landen Jarrell reached on a single then later advances to third. Runners at the corner and Trey Edler sacrifice fly for 1-0 ZT lead.

3rd inning: Zane Trace loaded the bases with no outs, then Austen Ison’s bloop RBI single to center made it 2-0. Minford pitcher Noah Martin proceeded to get the next three ZT batters to ground into force plays with no more runs scored in the inning.

T4th, Minford got runners to second and third, then Branson Alley’s sacrifice bunt scores runner from third. 2-1.

B4, ZT’s Brooks Hodsen walks and later in the inning scores on a wild pitch for a 3-1 ZT lead.

T5, Minford threatened, with runners and the corners, but an Edler pickoff of runner at third ended the threat.

T6: Mason Book leads off with a triple, followed by Noah Martin’s RBI double. 3-2. Martin moved to third on a FC, then scored on a wild pitch. 3-3.

T7: Aedan Queen’s sacrifice fly to right allowed Minford runners to advance to second and third with two outs. ZT throwing error from shortstop to first, which would have ended the inning, allowed Minford to score the go-ahead run. 4-3 Falcons. That was followed by a balk, allowing another run to score. 5-3 Minford.

The Pioneers threatened in the bottom of the 7th, starting the inning with back-to-back walks. But, Adam Crank came on in relief to get one out throwing out the lead ZT runner at third on a bunt attempt, then retired the next two batters on a FC force at second and a game-ending ground out to second.

Minford finished with 5 runs/9 hits/2 errors, while Zane Trace had 3 runs/3 hits/ 2 errors.

Minford will play Fairland at noon June 2nd for the D-3 Regional Semis at VA Memorial Stadium.