By Matthew Lee
Regional Correspondent

ELIDA, OH - In a battle for the sectional crown and for the right to advance to the districts at Bluffton University, Celina squared off with Lima Shawnee.

The game featured a duel between two hard throwing right handers, Shawnee’s North Carolina State signee, Cory Wilder, and Celina’s Aric Fickert.

With power arms on the mound, runs figured to be scarce, but the game proved to be different.

Celina got the scoring started as Wilder walked junior Kaleb Kuhn and junior Cody Vogel reached on a ground ball error at short stop by Shawnee’s sophomore Trevor Anderson. A passed ball allowed the runners to move up a base. After striking out the cleanup hitter Fickert for the 2^nd out, senior Kyle Berry lined a single to right that scored both runners and put Celina up 2-0.

Not to be out done, Shawnee scored two in the bottom half of the inning to tie the score after one inning of play. Senior Cody Fullenkamp line a shot to the gap in left center for a double and Wilder followed that with a ground rule double to center making it 2-1. Sophomore William Kleffner then stroked a single scoring Wilder.

In the bottom of the second inning, Shawnee scored five runs to make it 7-2. Anderson led off with a triple over the center fielder’s head. Freshman Jake Sevitz delivered a RBI single followed by a single from Bowling Green signee Tyler Anderson. After a couple of Celina errors loaded the bases, junior Zach Peake delivered a bases clearing double to put Shawnee up 7-2.

In the top of the third inning, Vogel jumped on a Wilder fastball and smoked a ball over the fence in left field to make it 7-3.

Celina added a couple more runs in the fourth. Senior Adam Fickert delivered with a shot to right for a double scoring sophomore Jimmy Luebke from first. Fickert moved up to third on a passed ball and scored on a ground out by senior Riley Luebke. That made the score 7-5 and was the end of the day for Wilder on the mound.

Lima Shawnee added a run in the 5^th. Back to back singles by Kleffner and Peake started the inning and Sevitz delivered his second hit of the game, a double to right to score Kleffner and make it 8-5. That was the end of the day for the Celina senior hurler, Fickert.

Celina tied the game in the sixth, taking advantage of Tyler Anderson’s wildness on the mound. Adam Fickert leadoff with a single and junior Damon Smith reached by getting hit by an Anderson curve ball. After a single by senior Shawn Stachler loaded the bases with one out, Kuhn delivered a sac-fly to right to make it an 8-6 game. Vogel walked to load the bases again, and then Anderson hit Aric Fickert and Berry to tie the game at 8-8. Senior Casey Mulcahy came in relief of Anderson, and got Luebke to ground to third ending the inning.

The game stayed tied until the bottom of the seventh. Kleffner led off the frame with a double to left off of reliever Berry. This was Kleffner’s third hit of the game. Peake grounded to short allowing Kleffner to mover to third.

Mulcahy, then delivered a sac fly to right to win the game for Shawnee 9-8. Mulcahy also picked up the win, working the final 1 and 1/3 innings.

Lima Shawnee will move on to the districts where they will face off against Lexington next Thursday at Bluffton.

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