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LIBERTY TOWNSHIP — Lakota East's baseball team trailed Fairfield 4-1 in the fourth inning and still found itself staring at a 5-4 deficit with three outs remaining.

Dave Giese of the Thunderhawks said he wasn't ready to end his high school baseball playing days just yet.

"This is one-and-out and it's my senior year, so one loss and my career would've been over," Giese said.

One swing of his bat took care of that worry. The result was a walk-off grand slam to right field in the bottom of the seventh inning that gave the Thunderhawks a 9-5 victory over the thunderstruck Indians on Friday, May 16, in the Division I sectional tournament at Lakota East.

"We've battled all year long," Lakota East coach Ray Hamilton said. "When we've been down, we've come back and (been) in the game even when it seems like we're not."

The Indians had taken a one-run lead in the top of the seventh when Mitchell Durbin led off with a walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Austin Ventling, and later scored on Daniel Constable's single.

Brad Blyberg ignited the Thunderhawks' answering rally with a one-out walk. Wes Smith followed with an infield single, then Alex Plummer laid down a perfect bunt for another single to load the bases.

Nick Strautman drew a walk to force in the tying run. Then Giese did his thing.

"I just couldn't believe it," said Giese, who also tripled and scored Lakota East's first run in the first inning. "I'm still shocked right now. I didn't even see it. I was too busy getting around the bases. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me."

Giese said he realized he had hit a home run through a series of clues, "when the outfielder stopped and didn't move, and then he just started moving in toward the infield, and everybody started screaming, and coach said to touch 'em all."

The Thunderhawks (15-11) advance to the sectional finals Monday at Lakota West, where they will face the winner of today's game between Mason and Princeton.

The Indians (11-16) came close to replacing Lakota East in that upcoming contest.

"We couldn't get that last out," Fairfield coach Larry Price said. "We had our chances. We had some tough calls go against us, but you've got to overcome adversity. You're going to beat yourself when you walk people, hit people and make errors."

Fairfield appeared to take control after scoring three runs in the top of the third to jump ahead 4-1 on the strength of a run-scoring single by Haney and a suicide squeeze bunt executed to perfection by Kris Kigar.

Ventling also had an RBI single for the Indians in the first inning.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.

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