As the innings grew on Monday for Community R-6, so did the Trojans' confidence.

Community R-6 vs New Franklin Photo Gallery

On their Senior Night, Community came back from a 4-1 deficit against Central Activities Conference foe New Franklin to walk off the Bulldogs 5-4 on a two-RBI double by senior Gavin Allen, furthering the program’s torrid 9-1 start and ending New Franklin’s domination against the Trojans.

Prior to Monday, Class 2 New Franklin (9-5, 4-1 CAC) had defeated Community (9-1, 3-0 CAC) by margins of 12-0, 10-0 and 21-0 in the previous five years. After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning due to early defensive miscues by the Trojans and then 4-1 with Bulldogs’ pitcher Clayton Wilmsmeyer finishing with 13 strikeouts on the day, head coach Joel Krato said the Trojans rolled with the punches and endured to the program’s first victory against New Franklin.

“We missed multiple bunts, we missed multiple balls in the outfield that were somewhat routine and we were giving them plays,” Krato said. “Before the game, I gave a speech about the word endure — overcoming suffering and pain, knowing there is something good on the other side. They’ll probably going to score first because they’re the away team, and they have a good offensive team. Can we endure for seven innings?”

Krato compared Community’s situation to the Rumble in the Jungle boxing heavyweight championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman — that Ali won by knockout in the eighth round — and being able to take punches before the Trojans unleashed their counterattack. 

In those previous seasons, that might have been easier said than done as Krato remembers starting last season 5-0 before losing 12-0 to the Bulldogs. The gap seemed to be wide at the time, but a year has made a difference.

“I remember looking at one of my assistants and said, ‘We will never catch up to them’ because they were young, they were good and we were having the best start in our history and they’re beating us 12-0,” Krato said. “This year, the kids came out with a lot of moxy and confidence that even though last year, we started out 5-0 but I didn’t see that moxy and confidence.”

Community needed to prevent the margin from growing too much so it relied on junior Mason Carroll, who pitched seven innings with eight strikeouts. Carroll seemed to grow stronger as the game wore on as he struck out five Bulldogs in a row from the fifth to sixth innings, which is also around the time Brant Cope tied the game at 4 with a two-RBI double.

“The energy on the bench kept me going, I was filling up the strike zone and people were making plays for me to keep me in the game,” Carroll said. “I was speeding them up on the mound and made them guess pitches.”

Krato said Carroll and Allen are the type of pitchers that can call their own pitches, as Carroll did on Monday, because they are confident in their stuff and know how to attack hitters. This is a privilege not given to just any pitcher as Krato said underclassmen still need some innings before gaining the sufficient knowledge.

“When you throw what you want to throw, total different level of confidence versus ‘I’m not confident in it, but coach wants me to throw it,’” Krato said. “He gets stronger as the game goes on as I’m pretty sure he threw harder in the seventh inning than he did in the first inning.”

Carroll said key plays from his teammates helped boost his confidence to keep fighting through the adversity. Following the fourth inning when the Trojans struck out three times, Community had No. 9 hitter Mason Rohan pick up a single that snowballed into Allen driving in a run and then Cope crushing a two-out pitch to tie the game at four.

“That was a kid that was like 2-for-38 last year,” Krato said. “He’s swinging it so well.”

Now a new ballgame had essentially begun, the Trojans showcased some outfield defense in the seventh inning that wasn’t there earlier in the game. Senior and transfer student Ayden Meranda laid out for out No. 2 rather than the runner racing the ball as it rolled to the fence. 

Carroll said his confidence grew even more after Meranda’s catch as he wasn’t sure it would end up in a fielder’s glove by how much the ball’s trajectory was tapering off. Meranda felt like the catch was him doing his part as he and the rest of the Trojans know Carroll and Allen will do their part on the mound.

“The first thing that went through my head was it’s a late game, and it’s a play that’s got to be made,” Meranda said. “Laying out for anything, you’ve got to save the run, save the hit anyway you can. They’re going to do their part every game so I’ve got to make sure we stay on the same page.”

Once Community was together in the dugout, as is the case in baseball for much of the time, the player that made an amazing defensive play was leading off the next inning. Meranda wasted little time in lining a leadoff single down the left field line before Eli Johnson reached base to set up Allen, which was game over for New Franklin as far as Meranda was concerned.

“I was 0-for-2 previously so I knew I had to do something there,” Meranda said. “Of course, Gavin does what he does. I knew it was over. First and second, zero outs, Gavin Allen, you don’t do that (as a pitcher).”

Allen was one of seven spring sport seniors honored — Meranda, Tucker Cox, Pacey Cope, Sarah Angel, Victoria DiSalvo and Ivy Hays — after the varsity game for their contributions to the school’s athletic programs. Allen has played basketball and participated in track but has played baseball for Community all four years and has a future as a William Woods Owl after graduation. 

With his high school career in its final year, Allen said it felt good to finally beat New Franklin and hopefully this means CAC rival and Class 1 No. 10 Cairo has a tougher matchup with the Trojans upcoming later this season — New Franklin defeated the Bearcats 1-0 this season. Having two hits already in three at-bats against Wilmsmeyer, Allen knew what was coming before the walkoff.

“Every at-bat, he threw me a curveball and I didn’t see one fastball,” Allen said. “So I figured by my fourth at-bat, I’ve got to at least see one. So first pitch, he threw me a curveball while I was sitting fastball. I wasn’t prepared for it so there’s no way he does it again. He throws me a fastball down the middle, got what I wanted and drove it up the middle — didn’t want to pull it because of the wind.”

Krato said of course the battle ends with the senior leader landing the knockout blow as Allen exemplifies the brimming confidence Community contains this season. If that wasn’t clear before, Krato said Allen proved that true before the walk-off hit.

“I went up to him with first and second and nobody out and am going ‘You want to bunt here? What do you thing?’” Krato said. “He was like, ‘Don’t even talk to me.’ I know he is seeing the ball well, but the smart move regardless of who is up is bunting in that situation. ‘Don’t even talk to me. I’m crushing it.’ OK sounds good. When you’ve got a kid that says that to you and you’re going ‘OK sounds good,’ that’s trust. I trusted him, and it was probably the hardest hit ball of our year to the deepest part of our park off the fence. Incredible moment.”

After being a part of this team, Meranda said Krato deserves the district title the Trojans are going for in May because of all the work he puts in. Allen echoes that sentiment and believes it’s time for Community to throw some more punches after falling short of its goals in his first three years, including his lost freshman season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and give a special year to a program he’s been with for a while.

“This year, things are going the right way,” Allen said. “Hopefully, we can keep it this way all through districts and all through state. Being a Trojan, it just feels a little different.”