“I want to thank the community because, you know, we had graduation Tuesday night and I had to get people down here,” John Marshall head coach Mark Cisar said. “We put something on Facebook and I had people showing up from the community– people who had went to church, people who were just walking by helped us put the tarp on that night. That saved us because, you know, the rain got us on Monday afternoon. We weren’t expecting to take off about 200 gallons of water– it was unbelievable. So, we show up today, we finally get to play after busting your butt working on the field all day long. So real pleased with that, with the community helping out.”

The Monarchs made all that effort on their home field pay off in a 5-2 victory, a three-run third inning the difference in a day where the two teams were otherwise mirroring each other.

“In all honesty, I feel like John Marshall and Grafton High School are two very evenly-matched teams,” Grafton head coach John Gouzd said. “It’s going to come down to execution and they executed better than we did today. We give them a couple extra outs in the innings that they scored runs, and that’s the difference in the ballgame.”

Both teams scored two runs in their turns at-bat in the opening inning. Catcher Chace Kinsey walloped a two-run double to right field in the top of the first, and John Marshall got both runs back in the bottom half after a Jacob Cisar hit that resulted in some chaos on the fully-loaded base paths. Grafton ended up tagging out two baserunners at second and third, but Hayden Hughes and Cain Martin both reached home.

“We gave it to ’em right off the get-go,” Cisar said. “And next thing you know, we go right back in the first inning and a couple guys find ways on, you know, via error or hit batters or walks. Jacob Cisar hit a couple shots today, two good at-bats to get us going there. You know, it could have been a bigger inning, but we had some bad base running.”

“It’s high school baseball and it’s a game of momentum,” Gouzd said. “When you come out and you get two runs early against a really good pitcher and you’re like, hey, we’re in this thing, but you turn right around and you go error, hit by pitch, walk– and you give all the momentum right back.”

Both pitchers traded scoreless frames the rest of the way, aside from a pivotal bottom of the third, where the Monarchs plated three runs to lurch ahead permanently.

In the all-important inning, Cisar drove in another run with a base hit to center, and Gavin Cline likewise knocked in a run with a hit to right. Landen Snyder pushed across the Monarchs’ final run of the game on a sacrifice fly that scored Cisar.

Cisar’s three RBI led the way for the Monarch offense. He and Cline each had two-hit days.

John Marshall’s Hayden Hughes was the game’s winning pitcher, tossing the full seven innings and striking out a pair. Grafton picked up five hits against Hughes, whose defense made impressive plays down the stretch. Shortstop Jesse McDowell made a play deep in the hole on a sharp grounder in the sixth inning, first baseman Kayden Knapp digging the throw out on a short-hop, and centerfielder Jacob Cisar made a diving catch in the left-center gap in the seventh inning.

“Hayden settled down after that first inning and threw unbelievable,” Mark Cisar said. “We played pretty good defense, made some really, really nice plays. Excited for the kids when they get those opportunities. Hayden Hughes went right back and just started pounding the strike zones, depended on his defense, and we made some plays.

“We talked about pitching to contact, getting ahead in the count early, and we’ve done a good job of that. And our defense, like I said, made some outstanding plays today.”

Kinsey’s two RBI led Grafton, while John Gouzd had two hits on the day. Jacob Moats was saddled with the loss, striking out two in a complete-game effort. Three of his five runs allowed were scored as unearned.

While John Marshall starts their postseason with a victory, pushing them closer to the regional co-final, Grafton now faces an elimination game against Fairmont Senior on Friday. Grafton beat Fairmont Senior 12-10 on Monday. The winner of the elimination game will hit the road to face the Monarchs.

“Clearly we want to get back up here and get another shot at John Marshall,” Gouzd said. “But you start looking up here prematurely and you’re going to be going home sad against Fairmont Senior.

“Fairmont Senior is a team that has been much improved over the course of the year, and we had a chance to put them away earlier this week and we didn’t do it, they scrapped back into that ballgame, gave them some hope, and hope on a team with nothing to lose is dangerous, so we better come prepared when we play that game.”