By Don Abernathy (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
With his team behind two runs and down to their final out at Billings on Monday, Ash Grove catcher Jon Rohlhaus had one singular focus when he stepped to the plate: getting a pitch he could drive.
It didn’t take long before Rohlhaus got just what he was looking for, and he didn’t miss.
Rohlhaus belted a grand slam deep to left field, which gave his Class 2 No. 10 Pirates the lead for good, in a 9-5 win over Class 1 No. 5 Billings.
“I was really just trying to make contact and trying move the runners. I put a nice smooth swing on it and ended up sending one out,” Rohlhaus said.
“I got a fastball high and in, and right off the bat I knew it was going. It felt really good. I was proud that I could gather myself and come through for this team.”
The part about Rohlhaus’ day that impressed his coach the most was the way his catcher refocused after a poor start.
“He made a couple mistakes earlier and was able to keep his emotions under control,” Ash Grove head coach Berrah Brown said. “He focused in on the pitch he needed to drive, and he capitalized on it. He’s been working on becoming mentally tougher this year. That was a huge accomplishment right there. He’s a special player. He has that capability.”
Billings jumped to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when shortstop Brayden Garbee crushed a three-run homerun to center.
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“The homerun that we gave up in the first inning, he hit a good pitch. (Ash Grove starting pitcher Parker) Crow hit his spot, the hitter just extended his arms, and that’s the kind of power they have,” Brown said. “They have a lot of threats, they can go deep, they have a lot of big kids for a Class 1 school and we knew that coming in.”
Ash Grove answered with two runs in the third, off three hits and three walks, to cut the lead to one run (3-2), but Garbee pushed two more runs across with a one-out double for a 5-2 Billings lead after three innings.
“We hit it well from the beginning and we played well defensively,” Billings coach Brady Greear said. “That’s why we love baseball right? Seven innings is what it takes, not six and two-thirds.
“We knew they were a quality team; we saw some strong arms and we got a good game. We made mistakes, we can’t blame it all on one at bat or one pitch.”
Ash Grove (5-0 overall) scored all six runs in the seventh inning with two outs. After Rohlhaus’ slam, Crow added a two-run homerun down the line in left.
“Once we got the lead, I was just trying to keep the lineup moving and trying to get more runs across” Crow said. “I was trying to hit a line drive and got under it a little.”
Crow went 4-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs and two runs scored while Rohlhaus finished 1-for-4 with four RBIs for Ash Grove.
Garbee was 2-for-3 with a homerun, a double, and all five runs batted in for the Wildcats (3-2 overall).
