Locos fall short of GLCL championship game

XENIA — No matter how you added it up, it was over.

The Lima Locos season came to an end after a loss and a tie-breaker that didn’t roll the Locos’ way.

The regular-season champion Locos fell into a first-place tie-breaker after a 9-2 loss to Licking County in the final game of pool play in the Great Lakes Collegiate playoff tournament Friday at Athletes in Action’s Grady’s Field.

The Locos’ season ended one game before the GLCL championship game.

“We gave it everything we had and pool play was kind of a bummer,” Locos catcher Danny Jones said. “We won and lost just as many games as everyone else in our pool, but we had to go down to numbers and that’s never good when it comes to baseball.

“We had a great season, played hard and never gave up. It was a great group of guys.”

The top team in each pool advanced to the title game. In Pool 1, the Locos, Southern Ohio and Licking County all finished 2-1. Since head-to-head games were a wash, it came down to fewest runs allowed in the tourney for the pool winner to be decided. Southern Ohio moved on to face Cincinnati in the title game by allowing only six runs. The Locos allowed 13, while Licking County allowed eight.

The move from a double-elimination tourney to pool play was made after the first day was washed out because of rain.

“The only two things you can control are your effort and attitude,” Locos coach Rob Livchak said. “I can’t control what they told us to do (with the tournament). All we control is what we can do on the field and we were just a little bit short with this format and it means we go home.”

In the finale, the Locos’ pitching (team ERA of 2.56) wasn’t there and the defense made a key error.

Licking County came out with two runs in the second and four more in the third to grab a 6-0 lead after three off Locos right-hander Zach Laughlin.

“He got the ball up and he fell behind,” Livchak said.

Licking County took advantage of a Locos’ miscue in the second to score. With runners at first and second and one out, Brian Kordal hit a grounder to second baseman Eric Charles, who was near second. Charles flipped to shortstop Anthony Toth, but the throw went wide of Toth for an error and Kyle McMillan scored from second.

Steve Davis’ squeeze bunt scored the Settlers’ second run and it was 2-0.

Chris Serritella, who had five home runs during the season, ledoff third with a monster home run into the trees to make it 3-0. Later in the inning, Kordal added a three-run home run well over the right-center field fence off Laughlin to make it 6-0.

The Settlers pushed the margin to 7-0 in the fourth when John McCambridge came home on a wild pitch.

The Locos cut the margin to 7-1 in the home fourth on an RBI single to deep short by Jones. Chris Sosebee’s solo home run to left in the sixth made it 7-2.

Laughlin pitched three innings for the Locos and gave up six runs, five earned, on four hits.

Jeff Shields came on in relief and went five innings, giving up three runs on five hits. He struck out six and walked one.

Licking County right-hander Jonathan Kountis went six innings for the win. He gave up two runs, both earned, on four hits. He struck out three and walked three.

It marked the final game of Livchak’s 16-year coaching career with the Locos.

“I told them they were going to take a piece of me,” Livchak said. “I put my heart and soul into this and every year when a group of guys like this leaves, they’re taking a piece home. Hopefully, they remember their time in Lima.”

The Locos set records with 28 wins, a 12-game winning streak and 21 runs in a game.

“It’s kind of bittersweet,” Sosebee said. “We had a great season, but hey, it’s baseball. Overall, I think we did great and I enjoyed being around these guys.

Locos notes: On Friday’s final day of pool play, Cincinnati clinched a spot in the championship game by knocking off Xenia 7-0. Southern Ohio defeated Grand Lake 3-2.

Final Pool 1 standings: Lima 2-1; Licking County 2-1; Southern Ohio 2-1.

Final Pool 2 standings: Cincinnati 2-1; Grand Lake 1-2; Xenia 0-3.

Cincinnati played Southern Ohio in the championship game late Friday night.

For the tournament, Locos designated hitter Chris Sosebee went 6 for 12 with a double, a home run and two RBIs.

The Locos’ brought a crown of close to 150 fans for the final game.