By Chris Check
Regional Scout

Cleveland, OH - Elyria Catholic defeated No. 17 Independence 11 to 6 in the first Tri-C District Division III semi-final game of the day.

The game started ugly for the Panthers of Elyria Catholic as they committed five errors in the first inning and a half, spotting the Blue Devils a 5-0 lead on only two hits. 

Before the Panthers could get six outs, they committed three errors in the field, two passed balls, three wild pitches while allowing two walks and a hit batsman. 

Independence junior right fielder Alex Scotten contributed an RBI double in the first and junior catcher Brycen Wise added a RBI single in the second inning.

Senior third baseman Ian Kovacs and sophomore left fielder Noah Brand started off the bottom of the second inning for the Panthers with two consecutive hits, and Elyria Catholic didn’t stop putting pressure on Independence until they scored nine runs on six hits in the inning. 

Junior centerfielder Angelo Cruz got a big bases clearing double, giving the Panthers seven runs in the inning before making their first out.  Kovacs and Bland each singled again in the same inning pushing the lead to 9-5.

Independence added a run in the fourth but Elyria Catholic responded with two of their own in the fifth. 

With two outs in the fifth inning, junior first baseman Joey Begany relieved starter Chris Tomshack, who only gave up four hits but had a high pitch count due to five walks. 

Begany finished the game going a scoreless 2 and 1/3 innings for the save. 

Elyria Catholic finished the game with seven errors while Independence had four errors of their own.

The Blue Devils advance to play Keystone who won the second game of the doubleheader in the District championship game.

To view scouting notes from games across Ohio, please visit the Ohio High School Scouting Blog. The blog gets updated throughout the week. 

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