By Chris Check
Regional Scout

HUDSON, OH - The St. Ignatius Wildcats held off the Invaders of Normandy yesterday in the Strongsville district championship game 2-1. 

Pitching, defense and small ball dominated play for the majority of the game until an RBI triple by Wildcat senior second baseman Dan Rowbottom tripled home first baseman Joe Khoury with the winning run in the top of the fifth inning. 

No. 13-ranked St. Ignatius took an early lead in the second inning when sophomore catcher Alex Panstares walked and advanced to third when Khoury got his first of two hits on the day.  Panstares then scored on a passed ball to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.

The Invaders tied the score in the bottom of the third inning when senior shortstop Greg Raimondo reached first on an infield single and stole second putting himself in scoring position with no outs.   He was driven in by his brother, junior third baseman Anthony Raimondo, with a single up the middle.

Good pitching and defense took over for the Wildcats as junior left hander Nick Margevicius allowed only two Normandy base runners over the last four innings.  He was aided by the strong Wildcat defense that made good plays behind him all day.  Notable plays include efforts by senior shortstop and Ohio recruit Tyler Finkler and junior left fielder Nick Fabian. 

Normandy senior pitcher Nick Marano battled hard for the Invaders, turning in a hard fought 3-hit pitching performance despite taking the loss.

St. Ignatius (24-6) advances to the regional semi-final Thursday at Case Western Reserve University against Avon Lake who beat Midview. 

Normandy finishes the season at (16-13).

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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