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Monarchs Walkoff Sends John Marshall To First State Tournament Appearance Since 2009

By NICK HENTHORN 6 min read

MOUNDSVILLE -- It had been a long time since John Marshall had earned a trip to the state baseball tournament-- 17 years, in fact, their last trip coming in 2009.

For Monarch senior Mason Markonich, such a span covers nearly the entire life of the 18-year-old. But as of Tuesday, the wait is over.

Markonich hammered a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning, and junior Jacob Cisar drove in Hayden Hughes in the bottom of the eighth, the two bookends all the scoring John Marshall needed in a walkoff win Tuesday over the Grafton Bearcats, the victory giving the Monarchs a WVSSAC Class AAA Region 1 championship and sending the Monarchs to the state tournament in Huntington, snapping a drought that goes back to 2009.

"We’re pumped to be back," John Marshall head coach Mark Cisar said after the game. "We’re senior-led, and our seniors did a great job. Seven seniors, outstanding work ethic, great practices all year. Had a great practice yesterday, and they’ve worked extremely hard, especially with the rain that we’ve had the last few days, taking the tarp off, putting it back on, taking it off, working on the field. Just really pleased with our guys."

Markonich went 3-3 on Tuesday, and started off his day with a swat over the centerfield fence to score himself and Cain Martin, giving John Marshall a quick advantage.

"He gave me a first-pitch ball high, and I was sitting dead-red fastball," Markonich said of his home run. "Just turned on it and knew it had a chance right off the bat. I just knew fastball was coming, knew I needed to get my hands through and get around on it."

"Mason stepped up, he finally hit one," Cisar said. "He had a tremendous [batting practice] yesterday. He hit several balls out in batting practice and to finally get one, I mean, he’s got power galore, tremendous job by him to get us going. Would have been nice to add on from there, but it didn’t happen. Really good job by him just stepping up, getting us the lead."

That was all the scoring the Monarchs would muster until Jacob Cisar hit a ground ball to second base in the bottom of the eight, Hayden Hughes breaking for home from third base. Hughes beat the throw and was mobbed by his teammates. The senior had bunt for a hit, stole second, and taken third after the throw from the catcher ended up in shallow centerfield.

The Monarchs defeated Grafton 5-2 last Thursday. If they had lost to the Bearcats on Tuesday, the two teams would have played again Wednesday for a winner-take-all matchup. Markonich was happy it did not come to that.

"Definitely big today, because then the nerves aren’t there tomorrow when the season's on the line," Markonich said. "You know, you let this game get away, they’re still there, and tomorrow it comes down to-- you lose, you’re done. This was definitely a big deal, saving pitching and everything else."

The Monarchs had their chances to tag on more runs Tuesday throughout the middle innings, but couldn't break through against the Grafton pitching combo of Jacob Moats (4IP, 4K) and Greyson Ramezan (3.1IP, 2K). John Marshall left 13 runners on base across the game Tuesday.

"You always want to make it easier," Cisar admitted. "We left some guys on in the first couple innings. Bases loaded the first inning, bases loaded the second inning. But I told our guys, we’ve been here before. This is us. Great situation for us to walk it off, and we did. We’ve done it several times here. You know, your leadoff hitter [Hughes] steps up, he’s had a phenomenal year, and starts it off like that. Just a tremendous job by him, a super job by all our guys."

Grafton got on the board in the top of the fourth, Chace Kinsey scoring on a 6-3-5 double play, the Monarchs defense coming up big to minimize the damage after Jesse McDowell entered on the mound with two on and nobody out.

"All our pitchers did well," Cisar said. "Jacob didn’t have his best stuff today, but battled, did a great job. Jesse came in, was unbelievable getting us out of a jam there, and then Hayden came in and had some wave on his fastball today. I’m just pumped."

Grafton came through to tie the game in the top of the seventh. A single and an error put two runners on with nobody out once again, and a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly from John Gouzd shuttled a runner to home.

"We played a great schedule," Cisar said. "Played a great schedule this year to get ready for these moments, to get ready for teams like this. Grafton is no slouch. I mean, they got a great team. They’re young, they’re going to be back here again next year. They’re extremely young."

Hughes and McDowell each had two hits for John Marshall.

The Class AAA state tournament is slated for June 9-13 at Marshall University's Jack Cook Field. The Monarchs are ready to make the most of their long-awaited trip.

"That’s all we talked about at the beginning of the season, it was to get to state. That was our goal," Cisar said. "Now let’s take our goal and move on from there and see what we can do down at state. We played down there last year. Marshall's field is unbelievable. We’re happy as can be to be going down there. These kids earned it and they put the time in during the offseason, flex days and open gyms and all that good stuff. We’re pumped to go down."

"Our seniors, we have a big group and we’ve all played together forever," Markonich said. "And, you know, we got Jacob, the younger guys, we just got a whole all-around good group that picks everybody up no matter what. I knew we had a chance at the start of the year to get to states, and it’s just unreal that we finally capitalized. It’s been 17 years. It’s an awesome experience and we can’t wait to experience it all."

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