Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. Warren JFK’s Gavin Shrum dives to touch home plate and score the game-winning run against Lake Center Christian Thursday night. Shrum dodged a tag by the Tigers catcher to score the run.

STRUTHERS — When Gavin Shrum laid motionless as a cloud of dirt floated into the late spring air, all he thought about was prayer, waiting to hear the audio cue determining if he was out at the dish or the hero of the Division IV district title game between his Eagles ant the Lake Center Christian Tigers Thursday night at Bob Cene Park.

A few short seconds feel like eternity, next thing Shrum knows, his team is chasing after him like a bandit, with a water shower from bottles being his reward.

Well, that and some hardware.

A 5-4 walk-off in an absurdly wild fashion sent Warren John F. Kennedy to regionals for the second straight season, but the path to the district crown isn’t always easy.

“There’s been a time that I’ve questioned coach when he sends me home, just because a lot of time, he rolls me around third real hard and I end up putting holes through my shoes because he’s trying to stop me,” Shrum said with a laugh. “I just smiled, when I got taken out in the sixth inning, it was kinda heartbreaking and I kinda had a couple tears, even in the dugout when we were losing, but I just had to tell coach that I can’t take anymore. I was at 95 pitches, I had to tap out which I don’t like to do to my team.

“I was running away, but it was just adrenaline they kept pushing me so I just fell, just let them dogpile on top of me, but I hope we have a lot more in our future.”

With two runners on, Shrum at second, Michael Mauro stepped into the box not looking to do too much with one out, but he drilled a line drive into right center, Lake Center Catholic right fielder Kendall Kauffman sent an absolute rocket into his catcher.

Already more than halfway home, Schrum took a few steps back, fell and performed a juke move like a skilled wide receiver to miss the tag, and while in the middle of falling, crawled about four feet to home plate, landing on top of the home like he was doing a belly flop at a nearby pool.

“Hard step inside and went around him, kinda crawled my last three or four steps to the plate,” Shrum described the moment “I was hoping I wasn’t out of the baseline, which I don’t think I was, because I was in the dirt, so I thought I was cool.

“I tapped home plate and kinda just laid there and prayed, I hoped that the run counted and then I heard a bunch of people scream.”

Shrum only gave up six hits and struck out four in six innings of work on the mound while only allowing two earned runs.

Five errors by Kennedy kept the Tigers around, especially after they took a 4-3 lead during the top half of the fifth inning.

The Eagles (17-5) took advantage of a pair of Lake Center errors themselves, as Caleb Hadley drew a one out walk in the bottom of the fifth, later advancing on an defenvice miscue, then scoring on another error that should have been the third out.

Relief pitcher Jaden Rishel came in during the top of the seventh, only allowing a walk, but kept the Tigers off the scoreboard to set up his team’s big moment in the bottom half of the inning.

After leading 2-0 early, then later 3-1, going down 4-3 prior to tying the contest isn’t the game plan Kennedy had in store. Being able to battle back despite the less than ideal circumstances is something Mauro highlighted following his walk-off hit.

“I was praying that the umpire throws his hands horizontal,” Mauro said about the final play. “My big thing is being relentless no matter what happens, we just have to keep playing our game, keep going, showing our adversity, just getting the job done.

“I think it eliminates any idea that (the run to state) was a fluke, it shows that we can compete with the best, and we’re going to continue to do that until the end.”

Hadley tallied a pair of RBIs during the bottom of the first on a hard-hit grounder past the shortstop. Quinn Meola added an RBI single in the bottom of the third while Alex DeSalvo and Mauro both recorded multi-hit days at the plate for the Eagles.

Warren John F. Kennedy advances to face-off against Jeromesville Hillsdale next Thursday evening at Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills.

Baseball, like any other sport can be an emotional rollercoaster from the first pitch to the concluding out. Every play, however minor at the time, could be the difference between taking the journey to Akron or heading home for the summer.

After the dust settled Thursday night, coach James Ciambotti was nearly at a loss for words when asked to describe his thoughts.

“I’m so proud, this group has been through constant turmoil with the weather, injuries, and to bounce back the way they did, it’s a great feeling,” Ciambotti said. “It shows a lot of grit, but we have to play better defense going forward, or else this will come to an end real quick.”

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