STRUTHERS - John F. Kennedy just can't seem to catch a break at Bob Cene Field in Struthers.
Last season, the Eagles waited more than an hour in the rain to lose to Columbiana on a soggy field. This year, they had to watch Boardman and Chardon play nine innings before they could finally take the field.
The results this year were even a little worse. On Wednesday in a Division IV district championship, the Eagles fell to Springfield 10-0 in five innings.
"I don't know what it is about this place, but we can't get on the field on time here," Kennedy coach Don Lee said. "It's not easy to wait around for over an hour, but Springfield had to do the same thing, and they adjusted. We didn't, and that's a reason we lost."
After defeating McDonald in the semifinal round, Kennedy even had its pitching lined up for Wednesday. Ace Brendan Cox was on the mound to face the Tigers with the hopes of pushing his team into the regional tournament.
"That's the way we set it up, and it all broke in our favor," Lee said. "We really thought we could get these guys this time, but they got all of the key hits and we didn't. Who knows ... if we would've got a couple key hits, maybe we could've jumped ahead, and it would've been a different game."
Instead, it was the Tigers who jumped on some Kennedy miscues and never stopped until the game was finished.
"We knew Brendan Cox was a very good pitcher, so we had to try and manufacture some runs early," Springfield coach Matt Weymer said. "Then their defense struggled a bit, and we were able to get some runs off that. I'm happy with the way we reacted, and we're right where we want to be, so we can continue this tradition here."
The Tigers got on the board in the second when Hunter Snyder dropped a bunt just in front of the plate, but enough to squeeze Matt Chicase in from third. The score grew to 2-0 when Jojo Carabello beat out a double-play to allow Joey Wrask to score.
Ryan Kohler made the score 3-0 when he looped a single to left field that scored Snyder.
Springfield extended the lead to 4-0 in the fifth when Nick Russell shot a single into right field that scored Ryan Kohler, who doubled and moved to third on a groundout.
The Tigers opened the game up at 6-0 three batters later when Wrask grounded a single up the middle to score Matt Chicase and Mike Buchenic. Carabello then made the score 8-0 when he looped a ball to right-center field.
Cox pitched five and two thirds innings before being relieved in favor of Joey Canann.
Kennedy preserved a scoreless tie in the bottom of the first when left fielder Vince Infante snagged Cody Pitzo's single, and fired the ball to the plate where catcher Alex Rossi tagged Springfield runner Nick Russell.
