AUGUSTA — By its own admission, Bessey Motors wasn’t as focused as it should have been in its playoff opener Tuesday.
The top seed in Zone 2 was ready to go Wednesday to start the double-elimination portion of the postseason.
After committing nine errors against Highland Green the prior night, Bessey Motors used miscues to its advantage in a 4-0 victory over seventh-seeded Tri-Town to move into the winner’s bracket of the tournament. Bessey Motors will play fourth-seeded Augusta on Thursday, with the winner guaranteeing itself a spot in the state tournament.
“Fielding is everything in the tournament,” Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer said. “Yesterday, we booted the ball around so our pitch counts got up and we had to use more than one guy, so two guys went deep. … Yesterday I think we played nonchalant. Today we were ready to play baseball.”
Bessey Motors’ three errors in the field didn’t come back to bite the top seed like it did for Tri-Town. The three errors committed by Bessey Motors yielded no runs. Tri-Town’s three errors cost the visitors three.
Bessey Motors (17-3) couldn’t capitalize on Tri-Town’s first miscue — a dropped pop fly to right field — in the opening frame, leaving runners on second and third. It did make good on Tri-Town’s final two, which occurred on the same play.
With runners on first and second in the bottom of the second, Blake Slicer dropped down a bunt to the left of the mound. The intent was simply to move Aiden Heikkinen over to third and Jacob Spinhirn to second. He never thought he’d make his way around the bases on the play.
But that’s exactly what happened.
Slicer beat Mitchell Davis’ throw to first and the ball sailed into the outfield, allowing Heikkinen to score. The ensuing relay throw to the plate to try and tag out Spinhirn went into the Bessey Motor dugout, letting Slicer touch home for a 3-0 lead.
“I was just trying to sacrifice, move them over,” Blake Slicer said. “It just happened that they threw it away a couple times. I was halfway to third and I was rounding it and I looked over and the catcher jumped up and the ball went out of play.”
Shane Slicer knew Blake was a quality bunter, but never thought he’d be waving him home on the same play.
“There was a guy on first and second and their third baseman was playing back on the bunt coverage and Blake’s a good bunter, so I knew if he got it down that he had a good chance to beat it out at first,” Shane Slicer said. “I didn’t expect two bad throws afterward. It was a great bunt, but it was icing on the cake to get that. All we wanted to do was move the guys over.”
It was a pitcher’s duel from there. Davis allowed two hits after the second inning, pitching through the seventh inning. He allowed four runs on six hits, walking six and striking out four on 126 pitches.
A two-out RBI single by Matt Smith plated Riley Chickering in the seventh for Bessey Motors’ last run.
That was more than enough run support for Chickering, who improved to 8-0 this season. He went all nine innings, allowing six hits, striking out six and not issuing a walk.
“Against a team like this you really have to keep the ball down,” Chickering said. “Keep them on their front foot and get a lot of ground balls, which is what I was able to do today.”
Tri-Town (11-9) had its opportunities. It left nine runners on and stranded the bases loaded in the seventh. Back-to-back Bessey Motor errors loaded the bases with one out, but Ethan Cailler flied out to shallow right and Brandon Hubbard grounded into a fielder’s choice at second to end the threat.
“We had opportunities but didn’t seize the moment,” Tri-Town coach Harold Bridgham said. “I thought our kids played pretty well. One error and not enough timely hitting.”
Lucas Johnson led off the fourth inning with a double, but was later thrown out at the plate on a Kaleb Banker grounder to third.
Tri-Town had three extra-base hits. Johnson had two, doubling in the fourth and eighth. Banker had the other in the second.
Brady Lafrance went 2-for-4 to lead Bessey Motors.
Tri-Town plays in an elimination game against Pastime on Thursday.
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