Shelby pitcher silences Ontario's bats

MADISON TOWNSHIP – Dillon Thornsberry was at a loss for words following the game. That's OK. His curveball did plenty of talking Thursday afternoon.

The 6-foot-2 junior from Shelby pitched a one-hitter to upset top-seeded and ninth-ranked Ontario 4-1 in a Division II district semifinal baseball game at Madison. It sets up an all-Northern Ohio League district championship Saturday at Madison at 2 p.m. when the Whippets face Bellevue, an 11-3 winner over Lexington.

"I can't explain it. I'm speechless. I was told to throw strikes and be consistent and let the defense play and that's what I did," Thornsberry said. "I relied on the curveball. The changeup wasn't working as well as I hoped it would."

Thornsberry had a no-hitter through five innings, but had no idea that was the case.

"I wasn't focused on that one bit. I was just focused on getting the win," Thornsberry said.

Shelby coach Jon Amicone didn't realize it either, but he wasn't surprised.

"We put him in there because we have complete trust in him," Amicone said. "He pitched extremely well in the sectional championship, too. He's throwing the ball really well for the team, and at the biggest time of the year, Dillon Thornsberry has stepped up. He has been our star and has been our leader. He has carried the team on his back and that's what great players do."

Through five innings, he threw just 57 pitches for 35 strikes. For the game, he tossed 92 pitches for 56 strikes. He only struck out two and walked three, but his defense backed him up.

"He's going to be around the plate. It's just a matter of us playing defense behind him. For us today, we only had one error," Amicone said.

Ontario put the ball in play, but couldn't get anything to fall except a Tyler Weber bloop single to center in the sixth inning. Mason Goodwin, Ontario's starting pitcher, had two loud outs with a long fly near the wall in left and a liner in right, but both were caught.

"He was throwing strikes, and they played great defense," Ontario coach Dan Gorbett said of Thornsberry. "They made several outstanding plays. Every time it seemed like we could get something going, their outfield made several nice plays. He pitched a nice game."

Thornsberry was staked to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when freshman Brennan Armstrong injured himself swinging at a pitch with a runner on. Alex Paulo took his spot with a 1-2 count, fouled off a pitch then drove an RBI double to center.

"It was definitely a huge hit coming in on a 1-2 count," Thornsberry said. "It was game changing. It takes a huge relief off you. It's a sigh of relief when you get that lead in the first inning."

Shelby added a run in the second inning and it stayed 2-0 into the sixth when Ontario tried to rally and scored a run. But the Whippets struck back with two runs in the top of the seventh to put it away.

"You're not going to win a lot of baseball games with six errors and one hit, and that's the bottom line," Gorbett said, adding the errors were the most in one game in the six years he's been at Ontario. "We didn't play well and Shelby did. I know that sounds simple, but that's the bottom line."

rmccurdy@gannett.com

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Twitter: @McMotorsport