CRESTLINE — The Arlington Red Devils were voted as the sixth seed in the Division IV Galion district tournament.
That seeding was exceptionally low, as the fourth-seeded Crestline Bulldogs found out Thursday night.
The Bulldogs (12-8) held a 3-0 lead over the Red Devils after three innings, before Arlington used several Crestline mistakes and exploded for 18 runs in the final three frames, beating the Bulldogs, 18-4, in the sectional final.
With the win, the Devils (15-6) advance to the district semifinals in Galion and will face second-seeded Plymouth Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Just how were the Red Devils rated so low?
Arlington coach Aaron Cheney said that a difficult start to the season, which saw the Devils lose four games, may have been the reason.
“We played our first game of the season and the next week we took a two-week break for COVID,” Cheney said. “Then we came back and played Miller City, who has been state-ranked all season, then we played Leipsic, who has been state-ranked and won our conference. We played Riverdale, who ended up being a five-seed, and we played Kalida, who was state-ranked all season.
“We had a really tough week and people just forgot about us,” he added. “And we just kept doing our thing. Kept getting better, got our legs back under us and we’re here now.”
For three innings, the four-seed had the upper hand, taking a 3-0 lead on run-scoring singles from Parsons and Blake Guiler.
But control issues and Crestline errors benefitted Arlington after that. The Devils finished with 18 runs on just nine hits for the game and eight in the last three frames.
Four Crestline pitchers combined to walk nine, hit four batters and the Crestline defense committed five errors.
It was simply too much for the Bulldogs to overcome.
“Who would have thought? With the one and two that we have, that we would use (four) pitchers tonight,” Crestline coach Mitch Sellers said. “Credit to Arlington, though, they hit the ball and there isn’t much you can do when they’re hitting the ball like that.”
The difference in the game was the Arlington 7-8-9 hitters, who were the beneficiaries of five walks and three hit batsmen, So, they were on base when the big Arlington hitters came to the plate.
Sellers said he was making no excuses, but his pitchers came into the game at less than 100 percent.
“Elijah (Evans) has been dealing with an arm injury the whole year and Caden was just having, I think it was a stomach issue,” Sellers said. “But I know he doesn’t want to make any excuses. Caden is a gamer. If he could have gone 125 (pitches), seven innings he would have.”
Arlington scored four runs on three hits in the fourth, five runs on two hits in the fifth, and nine runs on five hits in the sixth to end it.
“I felt pretty bad because, in that first inning, I ran us out of the inning,” Cheney said. “I’m thinking are we even going to get one?
“We just kept putting swings together and kept putting the ball in play. The guys changed their approach and we’re a pretty good team when we can put the ball in play.”
Arlington starter Zavier Thornton worked all six innings, permitting six hits while striking out nine and walking two.
“They put pressure on us; they forced us to make plays and we didn’t make those plays,” Sellers said. “It was like quicksand, it got deeper and deeper.”
Cheney said that his team will keep doing what it’s been doing.
“This was big,” Cheney said. “After that tough start when we had two weeks off and we get our teeth kicked in the first four games, this is big for them. That’s not who they are. We came back and this is good for this group.
“We travel, we show up and play, it’s who we are.”
Box score
Arlington 000 459 X 18 9 2
Crestline 003 010 X 4 6 5
WP: Zavier Thornton (9 SO, 2 W)
LP: Caden Parsons (5 SO, 4 W)
HR: (A) Jared Griggs (2-run, sixth inning).
Triples: None.
Doubles: (A) Grant Riegle.
Multiple hits: (A) Frankie Jones, Grant Riegle, Caden Lafferty; (C) Blake Guiler.
Records: Arlington 15-6; Crestline 12-8.
Next: Arlington vs. Plymouth, Division IV district semifinal, at Galion, Wednesday.