FENTON – Summit freshman Grant Dinges smashed a ground ball to shortstop in his first at bat and was thrown out at first. Upon his return to the dugout, coach Jason Schneider had a message for him.
“I told him, ‘Dude, just stick with that swing. That swing is working,’” Schneider said.
Dinges used that same swing in the eighth inning to blast a triple into the right field corner and scored the game-winning run on the next pitch as Summit defeated St. Dominic 2-1 in Game 1 of the best of three Class 5 quarterfinal series Friday at Rockwood Summit High School.
Summit (25-7) and St. Dominic (23-9-1) will resume their series at 11 a.m. Saturday at Summit. Game three will follow at 1:30 p.m. if necessary.
Dinges began his late game heroics with some nifty glove work from his shortstop position in the top of the seventh. With the leadoff batter on first, St. Dominic junior Kirk Hopper ripped a shot up the middle. Dinges ranged to his left, but the ball took a wicked hop behind him to his right. Somehow, he flashed his glove across his body, snagged it on the backhand, and threw out Hopper at first.
His brilliant defensive play prevented a certain, first-and-third, nobody out situation for St. Dominic in the seventh.
“I was going to turn a double play right there and the ball just hopped up on me. I had to stay with it and get an out,” Dinges said.
At the plate one inning later, Dinges extended his arms on a 1-0 pitch from Trey Peroutka and rifled it into the right field corner. His successful slide into third base drew a raucous celebration from the home dugout.
“I knew they were going to pitch me outside and I thought was a curve ball was coming. I just wanted to stay back and put it the other way,” Dinges said.
With one out and Dinges on third, St. Dominic elected to intentionally walk the next two batters to set up a force play at any base, but Peroutka’s first offering to Summit senior Jackson Miller bounced in the dirt and skipped toward the backstop.
Dinges did not hesitate.
“I was certain I could get there and I knew we were about to win the game,” Dinges said.
There may have been some uncertainty for the Falcons with the way the game started. St. Dominic junior Danny Henke crunched the first offering of the game from Summit starting pitcher Gabe Sieve into the left field corner for a leadoff double.
“I thought I executed that pitch. It was up and in. He turned on it and put a really good swing on it,” Sieve said.
A flinch on the mound by Sieve sent Henke to third via balk, and a sacrifice fly by junior AJ Flamm gave the Crusaders a quick 1-0 lead.
“The first inning was kind of uncharacteristic of him with the balk,” Schneider said. “I probably would have been a little bit nervous with an underclassman on the mound, but Gabe has had a great year. He’s been in tight situations all year long.”
Sieve settled in, and over the next three innings, did not allow a runner past first base.
“A lot of it was controlling the nerves, making sure I didn’t get too high or too low and just staying with it. I calmed it down after that (balk) and I was feeling good,” Sieve said.
His counterpart on the mound, Peroutka, was feeling just as good. The senior southpaw allowed an infield single to Sieve in the second inning, then promptly picked off his courtesy runner. Peroutka also did not allow a runner past first base over the first four innings.
“(Peroutka) was phenomenal on the mound. He was dealing and we were struggling. I was super-super impressed,” Schneider said.
Peroutka doubled to lead off the fifth inning and reached third with one out, but Sieve wiggled out of the jam with a strikeout and groundout. In the seventh, the Crusaders put runners on second and third with one out, but Sieve retired the side without damage.
“I was able to make really good pitches in those spots,” Sieve said.
Sieve doubled to open the home half of the fifth inning and a walk and a hit batsman loaded the bases. A 3-1 pitch to Dinges missed outside and Summit tied the game at 1 on a bases loaded walk.
On Dinges’ next plate appearance, he set the stage for victory.
Despite 17 upperclassmen on the Summit roster, it did not take long for the freshman Dinges to show his worth to the team.
“He was that guy from the get-go, It didn’t take more than a few days for the upperclassmen to see that this kid is a ballplayer,” Schneider said.
With the victory, Summit moved to 9-3 in one-run games this season, including two victories over St. Dominic by 6-5 and 2-1 scores. Schneider expects the same type of game(s) on Saturday.
“Our guys know it’s going to be a battle. (St. Dominic) is a great team. I would expect nothing less than a good battle tomorrow,” Schneider said.
For a photo gallery from this game go to: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/BaseballSoftball/St-Dominic-vs-Summit-Game-1-quarterfinal
