By Matt Wallisa

Spectators got their money's worth on Thursday night as Oak Hills and Anderson battled into extra innings in a sectional championship.

Oak Hills sent senior Thomas Connolly to the mound while Anderson countered with senior ace Nick Mason (Parkland College recruit)

In the top of the second inning, Oak Hills struck first. Senior Taylor Alley, junior Jake Richmond, and sophomore Ben Laumann strung together three singles to load the bases. 

With the pressure mounting and no outs recorded, Anderson's Mason induced a double double play that allowed one run to score. He would go on to register the third out of the inning and limit the Oak Hills offense to a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom half of the third inning, Anderson answered back. Sophomore Cody Riley reached base on a throwing error that eventually allowed him to advance to second base. 

Two batters later, Oak Hills committed another error that allowed senior Louis Lemberg to reach base and Riley to score. 

With the score tied at one run a piece, Anderson struck again in the bottom of the fourth inning. Senior Ben Lemaster reached first base after being hit by an errant pitch from Connolly. Senior Tommy Palmer followed with a single and Lemaster advanced all the way to third.  Once again, errors haunted the Oak Hills defense and Lemaster scored to put Anderson up 2-1. 

Oak Hills answered back in the 5th inning. 

Sophomore Jayson Essell and junior Ben Rothwell hit back to back singles to put runners on first and third. Junior Alec Steffen plated Essell with an infield hit. With the score knotted up once again, junior standout Jake Richmond delivered an RBI single to put Oak Hills ahead 3-2.

Facing their final three outs of the season, Anderson would not be denied.

Oak Hills, who struggled on defense all day, committed consecutive errors to allow sophomores Corey Peterson and Kevin Rogers to reach base safely. With a runner in scoring position, senior Tanner Brondhaver delivered the biggest out of his career with a sacrifice fly to score the tying run. 

In the eighth inning, both teams held each other scoreless.

Oak Hills went in order in the top half of the ninth inning as well.

The bottom half proved different for Anderson.

Senior Louis Lemberg lead off with a single, and senior Tanner Brondhaver followed with a walk. With a runner in scoring position, senior Ben Lemaster came to the plate. 

With the swing of the bat, Lemaster drove a ball off the centerfield fence to score the go ahead run.

The walk-off hit gave Anderson the 4-3 victory in the sectional championship.

Anderson's Mason struck out four batters over his outing. He showed excellent command of a mid 80's fastball that reached up to 87 mph as well as a 73 mph curveball and a 77 mph slider. 

Connolly allowed three hits over his innings of work. But, five errors from Oak Hill's defense made his day difficult on the mound. He three 95 pitches over his 6 2/3 innings of work. He relief on a changeup working at 73 mph and a curve sitting at 64 mph.