Eleven innings not enough for Bearcats, Warriors

FRANKFORT – The results of the highly anticipated Scioto Valley Conference showdown between Paint Valley (16-4) and Adena (16-3) will have to wait one more day.

Monday night's matchup between the two powerhouses lasted for more than two and a half hours, stretching over 11 innings before play was suspended due to darkness with the score knotted up at four runs apiece.

"It certainly wasn't our plan to go 11 innings tonight," Adena coach Ron Free said. "Plans don't work how you envision, but you have to make the best of it. We've started out slow a few times this season and it was no different tonight. Paint Valley is a really good team who is on the rise of becoming one of the top teams in the conference every single year. They're very well coached and we know they'll come back ready to finish a great game."

"This was a special opportunity to be a part of this game," Paint Valley coach Shayne Combs said. "We have so much respect for Adena and the program that they've built. We're a little bit disappointed that we didn't capitalize on some opportunities that we had. At this time of the year, it's great to play such a great team, especially this close to the tournament."

Adena got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning when Jonathan Thomas singled to score Eli Kunkel, putting the Warriors up 1-0. The Bearcats would respond the next inning when Clay Archer beat out a single to score Mason McCloy — who previously singled — and tie the game at one.

From that point on, it was a pitcher's duel between Adena's J.D. Blevins and Paint Valley's Anthony McFadden.

The two aces caused opposing hitters fits, forcing an array of groundouts, popouts and strikeouts over a four inning span.

"Anthony was tremendous," Combs said. "He finally got locked in around the second inning and just cruised for the next few innings. Our plan was to stick with Anthony, win or lose. He pitched outstanding for us and it's a shame we couldn't get the win for him, but I'm proud of his performance."

"J.D. pitched pretty well," Free said. "He was really sharp today. He was locating the ball pretty well and he trusted the guys behind him to make the plays. I'm happy with how he pitched and he'll only get better from here."

When the sixth inning hit, both pitchers would begin to cool down a bit.

Paint Valley would finally catch up to Blevins and begin to hit in the top of the sixth.

After consecutive singles, Teagan McFadden would hit into an RBI groundout and put the Bearcats ahead, 2-1. McCloy would then step to the dish and blast a triple to drive in another run before scoring himself on an RBI groundout from Josh Krech, making it 4-1 before the end of the inning.

"We didn't play Adena baseball," Free said. "We made a few mental mistakes tonight and it cost us. We need to execute better because we had our chances to win this game during regulation but we didn't. Everyone has a job to do on the field and if you're just standing around when the ball is in play, you're job isn't being done."

However, just when it seemed that Paint Valley had the victory in hand, Adena provided an answer.

In the bottom of the sixth, Braden Wilburn singled, J.D. Blevins was hit by a pitch on a 3-2 count and then Nick Chester would double to drive in Wilburn, cutting Paint Valley's lead to 4-2. Bo Dratwa then took his turn at the plate and cranked a bases-clearing double to tie the game at four.

After the uncharacteristic sixth inning, the pitching duel resumed, and then some.

Blevins' final stat line consisted of seven innings pitched, seven hits allowed and four earned runs to go along with six whiffs and a lone walk.

McFadden threw eight innings, giving up four earned runs on seven hits while striking out 10 and walking four.

Neither team was able to score after eleven innings as both clubs played into the night sky. The game was suspended due to darkness.

The contest will resume at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday evening.