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Rematch one game closer for Hamilton/Fairfield

Team wins 8-1, but needs two more to face West Side again.

Photos: Hamilton Fairfield little league

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Updated 7:20 AM Friday, July 15, 2011

By Jay Morrison

Staff Writer

HAMILTON TWP. — The long road back is getting shorter by the day.

The Hamilton/Fairfield Little League team won its third game in four days Thursday, keeping its District 9 tournament championship hopes alive with an 8-1 victory against West Chester/Liberty American at Testerman Park.

“The kids are loving it, saying ‘Hey, we get to keep playing baseball every day,’” said Hamilton/Fairfield coach Doug Partlow, whose team will face Loveland at 6:30 tonight in the losers’ bracket semifinals.

“Our goal is to continue and get to play West Side again,” Partlow said, referring to the perennial champions who put Hamilton/Fairfield into the losers’ bracket with a first-round, 6-1 decision.

West Side will face Lebanon at 6:30 tonight in the winners’ bracket final. Hamilton/Fairfield would need to win tonight and in the losers’ bracket final Saturday to get the rematch it wants.

That’s a lot of baseball in a short amount of time, but Partlow said he thinks his squad has the arms to pull it off.

“We’ve got eight or nine kids who can pitch and throw strikes steadily for us,” he said. “I have confidence in any one of those guys that they’re going to be able to do it.”

Michael Duncan started against West Chester/Liberty, throwing 1 2/3 innings of one-hit ball before being pulled after 33 pitches. Trenton Allen came in allowed one hit in one inning before giving way to Noah Bauman after just 20 pitches.

Bauman, who was making his first pitching appearance of the tournament, finished the job by going 3 1/3 innings while allowing one run on four hits, with four strikeouts and two walks.

“We were pleased with what he did,” Partlow said. “We knew he could come in and throw strikes. That’s all we needed, someone to put the ball across the plate, because our defense is good enough.”

West Chester/Liberty got three of its four hits off Bauman in the final inning to score its lone run when Evan Kuhlman drove in Kyle Kronour.

“Before our last at-bat, I told them every pitch counts, and don’t let us go down this way, and they responded and got one in,” said West Chester/Liberty coach Tom Hartel, whose squad won its first two games before being eliminated with back-to-back losses.

“The kids had a great season,” Hartel added. “The reason we do this is to try to get back to what we did when we were little and hopefully have them enjoy it the same way.”

Payton Adams led the Hamilton/Fairfield offense by going 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, while Davaughn Sneed went 2-for-3 with a double, RBI, run and stolen base. Drew O’Donnell added an RBI triple, and Bauman singled and scored.

Allen made the defensive play of the game when he ranged from shortstop to shallow left field to make a diving catch for the final out of the game.

“It was just good to see the kids come alive,” Partlow said. “Most important of all I was glad to see the kids having fun.”

Hamilton/Fairfield 8, West Chester/Liberty American 1

W. Chester/Liberty 000 001 — 1 6 5

Hamilton/Fairfield 013 40x — 8 8 3

WP — Trenton Allen; LP — Evan Kuhlman; SV — Noah Bauman.

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