Little League Baseball: Avon's fun run ends with costly late errors

AVON — Avon gave Bellevue an inch, and it took the championship. Leading by one heading into the final inning, Avon made three errors that allowed Bellevue to score three runs and walk away with a 4-2 win to clinch the Ohio Little League Minors (Ages 8-10) District 7 championship at Veterans Memorial Park on Wednesday evening. Even if it had held onto the lead, Avon would have had to win a second game as Bellevue entered Wednesday undefeated in the double-elimination tournament. "We had a great group of kids," Avon coach Michael Burcewicz said. "This was a ton of fun. Obviously, this isn't the ending we wanted. But it was a great battle. Both of these games against these guys were fun and they're going to have some success down at Dayton when they go there for the state tournament. They have some great pitchers and came through with some clutch hitting." Runs were hard to come by for the first five innings as both teams got strong outings from their starters. Bellevue was led by Weston Artino, who allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits and a walk with seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. Avon's Matt LaMarca matched him pitch-for-pitch, also going 5 1/3 innings and allowing one earned run on four hits and two walks with three strikeouts. "Matt LaMarca is one of the best ballplayers and a great kid," Burcewicz said. "He's a super kid who'd do anything you want him to. He played his butt off. I wish we could have won it for him. I loved everything he did out there. He just pitched his butt off. I couldn't ask for him to do anything more." Bellevue's first run came in the fourth when Weston Walters led off with a double and was brought around on back-to-back productive outs — a groundout by Henry Bogner moved him to third and then a sacrifice fly by Samuel Decker gave Bellevue a 1-0 lead. Prior to the fourth, Artino had allowed just two baserunners — a hit and a walk — and struck out six. But Avon took advantage of two Bellevue errors to take the lead. Avon's Cole Finefrock led off with a single into right field and Levi Salem reached on an error while trying to bunt him over. Mariano Melendez scored Finefrock on a sacrifice fly and LaMarca drove in Salem on another fielding error to give Avon a 2-1 lead. "These kids don't quit," Burcewicz said. "Last time we played them we were down 8-0 and we almost pulled it off in the last inning. They don't quit. Their mentality, I love it. These guys have been around baseball a long time already and they're only 10 years old. They've seen a lot and they've been in some big games. The moment never got too big for them, Bellevue just came through later in the game." That looked like it might be enough to force a winner-take-all game, but the error bug bit Avon hard in the sixth inning. After Finefrock, who relieved LaMarca in the fifth, struck out the opening batter, Dalton McCarthy and Harrison Wynbissinger reached on errors. Walters roped a double to score McCarthy, and Wynbissinger scored on a wild pitch that negated a strikeout. Corey Doster capped the inning with an RBI single into right field. Bogner relieved Doster in the sixth and Avon's Brody Irwin led off with a hit, but Bogner shook it off and struck out two of the next three to clinch the championship. "This team, this group, the parents and the kids, everybody involved, it was so much fun," Burcewicz said. "This is my favorite part of the season every single year. I wouldn't change anything except the end result. I'm going to miss these guys." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.