Mounties eliminate Forest Hills

By Zoey McGraw
For the CDT

SIDMAN - The rain wasn't the only thing coming down on second-seeded Forest Hills in the quarterfinals of the District 6 Class AA playoffs Tuesday afternoon. The Philipsburg-Osceola bats were also causing the Rangers trouble.

The seventh-seeded Mounties pounded out 17 hits, including six for extra bases, in a 15-2 thrashing of Forest Hills in six innings.

"These guys had a lot of confidence coming in," P-O head coach Doug Sankey said. "I tried to tell them that we played in a tough league we played a tough schedule. I told them before the game that Forest Hills lost to Central to give them a little confidence. We beat Central, so we can hang with these guys.

"Then to get those first couple of runs," Sankey continued. "That's what we needed to do to get a little momentum. We got a little flat but then the top of the order kept picking us up."

Tony Petulla, Jeremy Potter and Ryan Mostyn each had three hits for the Mounties while Adam White and Nate Musser each had two.

Petulla led the Mounties with four RBIs -- two on a home run in the first inning -- and also scored three runs. Potter had two triples and a double, scored three runs and had three RBIs.

Mostyn also had three RBIs. Paul Buynak scored three runs as Mostyn's courtesy runner.

"Potter had a couple of hits in that right-field gap," said Sankey. "He was wearing it out. That home run by Tony in the first inning was huge. To be on the road in districts and get that momentum first, that was a key hit for us."

P-O jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held it for two innings, before the Rangers scored two runs in the bottom of the third.

But the Mounties got two big innings, scoring five runs in the fourth and seven runs in the sixth inning to take home the victory.

Ryan Heeman threw a complete game. The Mountie hurler tossed six innings, allowing just two hits and two runs and eight walks. He also struck out five batters.

"Ryan is a right fielder trying to be a pitcher," Sankey said. "This is the first season he has ever pitched. He is gutsy. He's a bulldog. I kept asking him how he felt and he kept telling me not to take him out. We stuck with him."

The Mounties improved to 11-8 overall, while Forest Hills ends its season at 13-6.

P-O will now host Laurel Valley, an 11-0 winner over Penns Valley in five innings, in the semifinals Thursday in Philipsburg.