By Chris Parker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Skyline came to the Class 2 Final Four knowing it would have contend with a tough, one-loss Ellington squad ranked No. 1 in Class 2.
The Tigers didn’t know they would also be facing off with Mother Nature. Combined, they proved to be a hurdle too big to clear.
Skyline and Ellington started their semifinal game on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. It was quickly delayed after one half inning and a couple pitches in the bottom half of the first inning. The delay lasted a little more than an hour.
At that point, both starting Skyline pitcher Trevor Russell and Ellington starting pitcher Cameron Brewer were under the mandated pitch count number for having to rest a day.
The game resumed just after 6 p.m. with storms still in the area, but not affecting the ballpark at that time. Skyline and Ellington would get one more full inning play before play was stopped for the night 1.5 innings in with the game tied 1-1.
Such a quick start-stop was not the intention according to MSHSAA spokesman Jason West.
“Any decision to pause or suspend contests due to weather have nothing to do with pitch counts, score, time of game, etc. The most important element to consider is the safety of the individuals taking part in the contest be it player, coach, fan, media, etc.,” West said via email. “To be specific to last night, the decision was not to bring the teams back for inning. The decision was based conditions and information that was on hand. When the game resumed, the conditions were playable and the information indicated more of the game could be played. As you know, you can have all the radar equipment but still can’t predict what a storm will do exactly. When a cell moved in a different direction than what it was moving, it changed the conditions and the ability to play more of the game.”
Russell, a first-team all-state selection at pitcher last year, was over the pitch count limit to be able to come back on Thursday morning while Brewer was eight pitches under the limit.
That meant Russell had thrown his last pitch in a Skyline uniform.
“I have a lot of confidence in Ty (Pinon) our No. 2, but there is a pretty big difference in having a sophomore come up there in that position or your all-state senior. We all want Trevor on the bump right there and that (postponement) put us at a pretty large disadvantage there. I think that is something that MSHSAA might want to look at. We get this far and you have an all-state guy that gets to pitch two innings in the final four. That hurts you pretty bad at a Class 2 school,” Skyline head coach Brett Bybee said.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Pinon took over on the mound Thursday morning and got out of the top of the third inning unscathed, but Ellington would score 10 combined runs in the fourth and fifth innings to pull away on their way to an 11-6 win in the Class 2 State Semifinals. Skyline used three total pitchers on Thursday and four in the game.
“We have had a lot of adversity this year. I could go on and on. There have been all kinds of things we have had to overcome and these boys have done a good job of overcoming those things. It was just a little bit too much this time,” Bybee said. “Give Ellington credit for hitting the ball well against Ty because he is a good pitcher.”
Skyline didn’t give up. They battled back with two runs in the fifth and three more in the seventh, but just ran out of outs.
Brewer threw all seven innings for Ellington with 13 strikeouts. He was credited with throwing 125 pitches in the game that ended 22 hours after in began. He had 22 pitches before the postponement that reset to 0 at the start of play on Thursday.
Bybee hopes to see discussion about how pitch count rules are enforced in the postseason after two incidents that faced Skyline this postseason.
“I think it (pitch count rules) need to (have) a postseason exception. I think you keep it the same throughout the regular season and probably through districts in my personal opinion. We almost had a situation in the Adrian game (quarterfinal). Their sectional game got rained out and they played their sectional and quarterfinal games in one day, which allowed their pitcher to pitch part of that game and part of our game. Our pitchers didn’t have that luxury. So there have been two different situations (for Skyline) this year. I am just afraid we are the guinea pig at seeing these problems. I think they need to make a postseason exception that would allow aces to go against aces not let Mother Nature affect that,” Bybee said.
West indicated there will be discussion on ways to handle pitch counts as they relate to delayed games.
“The pitch-count limitations were put into place by the Board of Directors as part of the NFHS rule requiring their implementation by state associations. The limitations are for all contests, regardless of time of year. We will discuss how we can incorporate safety of the students and pitch counts into resuming a game after a delay. We feel for the young man from Skyline that could not return to throw, but the rule is there to protect him and any student that throws in a high school game,” West said via email.
A city ordinance in O’Fallon limits flexibility with waiting out storms. No game may start after 9 p.m. and no game may be played after 11 p.m. according to the ordinance.
It wasn’t the ending Skyline had hoped for, but the run to the state semifinals wasn’t expected when practices started in March.
“We have two seniors in Trevor Russell and Paden Hodges. (They are) two outstanding young men. Nobody expected us to get here. We had to replace five starters from last year. You are thinking rebuilding year, and we just had a few rebuilding games and we found a way to make it back. We only lose two (players) this year, so next year we have a shot to come back,” Bybee said.
There will be no third place game played, so Skyline finishes the season 21-8 overall.
