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Bethesda’s big run comes to an end

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Fourth-seeded Bethesda Post 105 proved to be in a giving mood defensively during Saturday’s Montgomery County American Legion baseball tournament semifinal against second-seeded Gaithersburg Post 104.

After reaching Post 104 pitcher Wes Shifflet for four runs in the bottom of the first inning on four hits and two walks, Bethesda allowed Gaithersburg back into the game and then handed it the lead en route to a disappointing 6-4 loss at Damascus Regional Park.

‘‘We gave the game away,” Bethesda manager Mike Naas said. ‘‘[The early lead] would have held. The game should have been 4-2 as far as I’m concerned. We should have won.”

The loss ended an impressive late-season run by Post 105 (16-15), which was making its first postseason appearance in several years. Bethesda concluded the regular season with five straight wins to edge Rockville Post 86 (13-14) and Laurel Post 60 (13-14) for the final playoff spot. It then upset top-seeded Damascus Post 171, 4-3, in the first round last Tuesday before bowing out with back-to-back losses to Gaithersburg Post 295 (23-11) Thursday and Post 104 (20-12) Saturday.

Post 295 went on to defeat Post 104, 10-9, on Sunday for its fourth straight county championship.

‘‘People thought we were a lot worse than we were from the beginning,” said Bethesda first baseman Will Hanlon, who got the win on the mound against Damascus in the first round. ‘‘The 1-7 start [to the season] was partly due to beach week and partly due to everybody coming together. Once we came together ... things started working out for us.”

Hanlon supplied the first two runs of Saturday’s contest with a two-run single to right field that followed two walks and a bunt single by Chris Sintetos to load the bases. Sintetos then scored on a balk by Shifflet for a 3-0 Bethesda lead. Three batters later, Rick McKenzie singled to left field to score Hanlon for the 4-0 advantage.

Shifflet, who threw 110 pitches during Tuesday’s 4-3 nine-inning loss to Post 295, worked the final six innings without giving up another run, helping Post 104 climb back into the game. Shifflet, who is headed to Towson University, allowed just one hit the rest of the game with a total of five strikeouts on 132 pitches.

‘‘After the first inning, I got into a rhythm,” Shifflet said. ‘‘The first inning was a little rough. I got control of the game. I wasn’t in control in the first inning. I think I just found where the umpire was calling strikes, and I just stuck to that and trusted my fastball. I usually throw a lot of off-speed, but not today.”

Trailing 4-0, Gaithersburg struck for two runs in the top of the second inning on a two-run double by Peter Barrett down the left-field line. Neither runner should have been on base, but Post 105 third baseman Chris Healing botched a potential double-play groundball from Rick Phillips by sending the throw to second into center field.

Post 104 cut the lead to 4-3 in the fourth inning on a single by Barrett and then tied the game on a triple by Will Greenberg in the fifth inning.

In the seventh, Greenberg reached on an infield single and Alex Bastow drew a walk, and both moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by Phillips. Post 105 relief pitcher Andy Banks attempted a pickoff of Greenberg at third, but the errant throw got away from Healing, allowing Greenberg to score the game-winning run.

The pickoff attempt came after a failed suicide squeeze by Post 104. Steve Delmar’s bunt was fouled away, but he got his next bunt attempt down, allowing Bastow to score for a 6-4 advantage.

Chris Thompson walked to lead off the bottom of the seventh, but Shifflet induced three straight outs to seal the win.

‘‘We wanted to jump on them right away,” Naas said. ‘‘That was the idea. You jump on these teams right away, sometimes they get down. Then we made mistakes. They came back to haunt us. We had a good season, no doubt about it. They didn’t expect us to do anything or go anywhere. We made the playoffs and we beat the best teams in the county — every one of them.”