By Natalie Dillon
ndillon@
themonroetimes.com
MONROE — Entering the seventh inning, Monroe trailed Delavan-Darien by three before the Comets rallied for three insurance runs and a 6-1 RVC win on Monday, May 6.
Each team played a clean defensive game, and the hits were 9-5 in favor of Delavan-Darien. It just came down to the timely hit, as Monroe left seven runners on base.
“We’ve been in a lot of close games. We’ve battled really hard. It’s that clutch hit that’s missing,” Monroe head coach Jeff Newcomer said. “We’ve been having great pitching, decent fielding and missing hitting. We can’t put all three together. The kids get it. They keep grinding. They keep working hard. We have to find a way to close and have that killer mentality, which is hard.”
The Cheesemakers were mentally tough on defense early on, stranding five Comets in the first three innings.
Starting pitcher Ethan Rosenstiel got into a jam in the opening frame, walking Carter Horton on four straight pitches to put runners on first and second with one out. He left both runners stranded by getting a groundout and comebacker to the mound, where he flipped to Owen Douglas at first for the out.
Looking to spark his team against the Comets, who entered the game 12-2 and second in conference, Ashton Hale led off the bottom of the first with a triple that two-hopped the center field fence.
“I knew these guys were good, so I wanted to start off hot,” Hale said. “It felt good. I was hoping it would get us going.”
Eli Schaefer followed with a 3-2 walk and stole second to put two runners in scoring position. Three-hole hitter Keegan Dahmen went down looking at three strikes, and Rosenstiel popped up to second. Cam Newcomer drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases, but Delavan-Darien starting pitcher Neil Janssen escaped the jam by striking out Owen Gilbertson on three pitches.
“You look back at that first inning where you have runners on first and third with nobody out — I would have loved to replay that and do something different,” coach Newcomer said. “When you have your three and four hitters coming up, you think you’ll get one or two.”
Rosenstiel walked two more batters in the second, but he got out of the inning unscathed with a strikeout of Jacob Huff as runners were on the move.
“I was fighting myself all night tonight. From the first batter, it wasn’t my best stuff,” Rosenstiel said. “I knew I had to mentally keep pushing through. I had to approach it like I was throwing my best game. I get in my head a lot. If I get down on myself it gets tough to pitch. But I just had to battle because there was a lot of game left.”
Monroe went down in order in the second, putting its defense back on the field quickly. Delavan-Darien rode the momentum, as Horton lined a stand-up double down the right-field line and stole third. Neil Janssen drew a full-count walk and stole second, putting two runners in scoring position with no one out. Rosenstiel struck out Conner Wallman on an off-speed pitch for the first out.
Hale then made a diving catch up the middle on Haaken Hovestol’s line drive and doubled up Neil Janssen at second to get out of the inning.
Neil Janssen recovered from his base-running error by sitting Monroe down in order — his second straight 1-2-3 inning.
Delavan-Darien then broke the stalemate with a three-run fourth. With runners on second and third, Kaden Garbe hit a sacrifice fly to center. Marcus Ott’s throw home was a one-hopper that beat Joel Janssen to the plate, but he slid to the outside for the score. Rosenstiel walked Huff, and Horton followed with a two-RBI single to the right side.
Monroe responded right away in the bottom of the frame, as Rosenstiel led off with a shallow fly ball over second base. Cam Newcomer grounded into a fielder’s choice but stole second on what could have been a strike-them out, throw-them out had Huff not bobbled the throw down to two. Ott then came up clutch with an RBI single up the middle.
“We aren’t going to have guys that will hit it over the fence. We just don’t, so we have to manufacture runs,” coach Newcomer said. “We have to get on, move them over, get them in. We have to put some different plays in to put pressure on them.
Ott entered the game, relieving Rosenstiel and sat the Comets down in order. It was Monroe’s first three-up, three-down inning of the game.
Neither team scored in the fifth or sixth, setting up the seventh.
Huff led off the top of the frame with a stand-up triple that one-hopped the fence. Horton drove him in with a groundout. Neil Janssen lined out to right, and Ott was one out from another clean inning. Delavan-Darien then tallied three straight hits to make it a 6-1 game.
Ott attempted to spark his offense, hitting a leadoff single in the seventh. He was left stranded, though, as the next three batters went down in order.
Ott and Rosenstiel led the charge with two of the five hits. Rosenstiel also suffered the loss, giving up three runs on five hits. He struck out two and walked five.
Monroe drops to 4-12 overall but is 4-5 in its last nine games, including a pair of one-run losses to Jefferson, then-ranked No. 7 in Division 2.
“We’ve been gaining confidence all year. The first seven games didn’t go how we wanted to — and we want them back — but we’ve been getting better as the year goes on,” Rosenstiel said. “Hopefully we can start turning these close games into wins.”
