DELHI TOWNSHIP - Any Elder baseball fan who left the Panthers' West-Side rivalry game with Oak Hills in the seventh, may have beaten the rush out of the parking lot but missed a classic ending.
Up 2-1, Oak Hills coach Josh Richmond pulled starter Wyatt Fisher after he allowed a hit to begin the last frame. Austin Dennis came in from short and was able to rack up two outs and seemingly a third but a routine ground ball to second was bobbled at first.
With new life and after a hit batter, junior Chris Kammerer racked up a huge two-strike, two-out hit up the middle plating two runs and Elder had the lead. They would add another against Dennis to go up 4-2.
"Right after it came off the bat, I knew it was going down," Kammerer said of his liner.
Jeremy Ward hit a pair of batters in the bottom of the seventh, so Kammerer was called on again. This time, for the save. Seeing as it was pretty much his inning, he delivered and the Panthers came off the mat for three in the seventh for the unpredictable victory.
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It wasn't a conference game for either squad, but it certainly had the intensity of one.
"As you can tell, it still means something," Elder coach Mark Thompson said of having west-side supremacy for the time being.
Said the man of the moment Kammerer, "This one goes way back. We've been playing back and forth for a while here. It's definitely a big rivalry."
An Elder loss would have been tough to swallow as Ward allowed just four hits to Oak Hills and their runs came on a fourth-inning pick-off attempt to third base. The errant throw went plated the only runs for the Highlanders.
"It's high school baseball," Thompson said smiling.
As for Richmond and Oak Hills, who nearly pulled off their first win against Elder since 2017, they know have to wait another season, or at least until the tournament.
"I've got nothing but respect for Mark and that program," Richmond said of Elder. "It was a postseason style game, postseason environment. If you want to get to the ultimate goal, if you want to win in the postseason, you've got to find ways to win ballgames like that."
Richmond is the new head of the Highlanders, taking over for long-time skipper Chuck Laumann who led his alma mater to over 1,000 wins in baseball, soccer and basketball before stepping aside in 2019.
Elder's Mark Thompson is the winningest coach in school history and has led the Panthers baseball program since 1990 when the Reds last won a World Series. He's led Elder to a pair of state titles in 1999 and 2005.
Both schools are having solid seasons and this game was actually a battle of the leaders of the Greater Catholic League-South and Greater Miami Conference.
"We've got pitching depth," Thompson said. "Today our starting pitcher was our shortstop (Jeremy Ward). He stepped up and had another good start. His first-pitch strike ratio was off the charts. Our closer (Kammerer) came in from right field."
Ward was fine with coming out in favor of Kammerer as it meant an Elder win. Beating the Panthers never comes easy. With just an out to go, they refused to be finished.
"Never do," Ward said of being counted out. "We had them there, I made a bad throw, but we always fight back on offense and win."
The Panthers came unbeaten in Ohio with their only loss to Kentucky state-ranked Covington Catholic. They do have a twin bill Saturday with Louisville St. Xavier and McCracken County in Kentucky, who are ranked first and fourth in the Bluegrass state, respectively.
"You want to be the best you play the best, right?" Thompson said.
Oak Hills just played Louisville St. Xavier April 3 dropping a double-header. Both were one-run games.
While Thursday was just one game in each school's season, the west-side certainly appears to be alive and well at the ballyards this spring.
Junior Jameson Richmond is the Oak Hills hitting leader who is a Louisville commit following his brother Josh's footsteps. Another brother, Jake, played at UC.
Another one to watch is Elder sophomore Luke Vaughn, who had two of Elder's seven hits Thursday and solid line-out to right-center that may have been his best hit ball.
"He's a DI prospect," Thompson said. "He's going to go somewhere really big; he's just not sure yet."
As for the teams that graced the diamond off of Ebenezer Road Thursday, there's certainly more to come based on their performances thus far. Both are still undefeated in their respective leagues heading into the weekend. But, for a Thursday non-conference tilt, it was a memorable evening.
"We'll see them again," Richmond said. "Whether it's this year or next year, we'll see them again."
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