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NTL BASEBALL: CANTON DROPS TIGHT PLAYOFF GAME TO SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT (2022-05-21)

Northern Tier Sports Report
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT — Canton gave South Williamsport everything they could handle, but the Mounties rode their star lefty, Makai Day, to a 3-1 win over the Warriors during District IV, Class AA playoff baseball action Saturday.

 The game was scoreless through four innings when South tacked on three in the fifth. Canton would rally in the seventh, but managed just one run for the 3-1 final.


Day went the distance, striking out nine with two hits, no walks, and one unearned run.


“We were trying to hunt the fastball,” said Canton coach Bob Rockwell. “He’s tough. We faced him before, and it was, like, the same result. You’ve got to give him credit, he has a tailing fastball, and he’ll mix in the slow curve. He’s a good pitcher, and he’s back.”


Cooper Kitchen was strong in the loss for Canton, striking out one with one walk, seven hits, and three earned runs.


“He’s got ice in his veins,” Rockwell said about his starter. “Pressure does not bother him. He’s proven that in every sport that he plays. You know what you’re going to get from him, he’s a gamer.”


Kitchen (2-for-3) had all of Canton’s hits, and scored their lone run, too.


They were strong defensively, with no errors on the day.


“We practiced some things,” said Rockwell. “We practice that pitch out, on the play, first and third, we practice that, it just doesn’t come, you know, it’s stuff we work on. And they executed it.”


Kitchen would lead off the seventh with a single, then scored on an error in the outfield on a fly-out.


In South’s win, they led off the fifth with a double, and a single. A sacrifice fly brought in their first run.


Then, with two outs, they started the rally again, this time with another double, followed by an intentional walk.


A triple then scored both of them to give them the 3-0 lead.


“They made those points,” said Rockwell. “You’ve got to give them credit. I mean, how many diving catches - three diving catches. They make those plays, give them credit. They’re a good team, and well coached.”


This marks Rockwell’s final game, as he plans on retiring after the season is through, spending 35 years in the dugout down at Canton.


“I got the job my first year teaching,” he said. “What a run, it’s been so much fun. Canton has such great kids. I mean, they’re just blue collar kids, you know. And they’re that way because of their parents, their parents raised them that way. And the support that the parents have given me over the years, it’s just unbelievable. The parents, they were behind me. They were even behind us today. They were behind us when we were 1-6 this year. They stayed behind us, that’s what Canton parents were like.”


PHOTO CAPTION: Canton’s Cooper Kitchen…PHOTOS BY JARED WIKER



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