Powerbuilt bows out at state tourney
Rough fifth inning spells trouble for Bellefontaine in loss to Lima Bath

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COLDWATER — One inning changed the complexion of Powerbuilt’s state Acme tournament run here Tuesday evening.

With the game tied 1-1, Lima Bath exploded for an eight-run fifth inning to race ahead of Bellefontaine and went on to take a 9-2 win.

The loss knocked Powerbuilt out of the state tourney and ends the team’s season at 30-7.

“They just hit the ball,” said Powerbuilt head coach Jeremy Burrey. “Everything we threw at them they hit, and hit it hard. We didn’t play bad defense. They just hit it where we weren’t.”

After setting a goal of getting back to the state Acme tournament after a one-year absence, Burrey was still happy to see his kids earn a spot with the seven other state tourney participants.

“For a majority of the guys they have never played in the state Acme tournament,” said Burrey. “So it was nice for them to get to experience it at this level. There is stiff competition here and there are good teams here.

“I’m proud of the kids. To have a 30-win season is a great thing. We had a lot of fun this summer. The kids earned their state berth and it’s just unfortunate things didn’t roll our way.”

Lima Bath took an early 1-0 lead, but Powerbuilt’s Mark Duffy got on base with a double in the bottom of the second and later scored to make the score 1-1.

The score remained tied until the top of the fifth inning when Bath used seven hits to put eight runs on the board. Bath sent 15 batters to the plate during its big inning.

“Sometimes a team gets going and gets hot,” said Burrey. “They say hitting is contagious, but unfortunately for us, it was the wrong team.”

Brock Mitchell had a double and T.J. Garman followed with an RBI single for Bellefontaine in the sixth to make the score 9-2. However, Bellefontaine was unable to score any more runs.

Powerbuilt totaled five hits on the night, with Mitchell getting two of them.

Cameron Garver led Lima Bath at the plate, going 3-4 including two doubles and two RBI, while Kevin Korkate earned the win on the mound with seven strikeouts.

Lima Bath advances to face Coldwater in today’s loser bracket semifinal.

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