Pirates fall to Dexter in predistrict, 3-0

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HOWELL — In the state tournament, the difference between winning and waiting until next year is a play or two.

On Tuesday, Dexter made a couple of plays and Pinckney didn’t, and that was the difference in a 3-0 decision in a Division 1 pre-district game at Howell High School.

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“I told the kids all year, I don’t need you to make the exceptional play,” Pinckney coach Matt Evans said. “But I need you to make the routine plays.make the smart plays, make the plays that aren’t going to hurt us, and part  of that comes through communication. The few times our communication dropped a bit, it cost us runs.”

Until then, junior Luke Rendell baffled Dexter batters. He allowed only four hits, hit two batters and walked only one.

“He had trouble with the off speed early,” Evans said. “But once he settled in, he really started attacking hitters.”

Dexter starter Seth Jaimez was just as good, allowing four hits and striking out eight.

The Dreadnaughts (25-7) scored the only run they would need in the first inning. Jaimez walked, stole second and scored on a single by Stewie Weber.

The Pirates (7-21-1) threatened only once, in the fourth. They led off the inning with singles by John Manney, Evan Anderson and Rendell to load the bases.

But Jaimez got out of the inning on a fielder’s choice, a popup and a strikeout.

“You could see  the wind come out of the said when we got the bases loaded and couldn’t get a run across,” Evans said. “When they wind comes out of their sails like that, it’s an uphill battle the rest of the way.”

But Dexter could do little until the sixth, and it was Jaimez who got things going again.

He led off with a single, then stole second and third. With one out, Dexter shortstop Grant Katcher hit a grounder to Pinckney first baseman Al Thorington, who fired the ball home.

Manney, playing catcher, reached for the ball but couldn’t catch it, and Jaimez was safe.

“I just missed it,” Manney said. “I misread the hop and it got under the glove.”

Katcher went to second on the play, to third on a wild pitch and scored on a balk.

“That’s our M.O.,” Dexter coach Mike Penn said. “We have to play some small ball. We can’t always rely on sitting back and (home runs), so we have to make things happen.”

As a result, Dexter advanced to Saturday’s 9 a.m. district semifinal against Brighton.

“All in all, I was happy with the way the kids battled,” Evans said. “We knew we were up against a good Dexter team, so you don’t come out on top, but when you look at the scoreboard at the end of the day, we were about 90 percent there with the things we tried to do in the pregame talk.”

Manney, a junior, saw a silver lining in Rendell’s start.

“He definitely had a good outing, that’s for sure,” he said. “We needed to get it out of him to get a win. We fell a little short, and it’s tough, but being juniors it leaves a good taste in your mouth, ready to come back and win next year.”

 

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