By By ERIKA PICKLES / NIles Daily Star
NILES - The Angels proved that anything is possible Thursday evening as it took a 14-11 win over the Athletics in Cal Ripken Rookie playoff action.
This was the first win of the season for the Angels, who had tied with the Athletics on Monday evening for its last regualr season game.
The Angels had a big 10-2 lead heading into the third inning after some power hitting offensively.
The A's scored a quick run in the bottom of the third to bring the score to 10-3. A triple by Cole Searles brought in two more runs for the A's and another RBI single brought Searles to bring the A's within three runs of tying the game.
The Angels were able to score two more runs in the top of the fourth to give it a 12-7 lead. Conner Earls and Nicholas Baily both had RBI singles to bring in Rachelle Dodge and Austin Balos, who were both on base from singles.
The A's made an attempt to come back in the fourth, but were only able to bring in one run.
The Angels' power hitting continued in the fifth when Jonathen Gamble and Zach Grishaber both had singles to put the two in scoring position. Dominic Stella was able to bring both runners in with an RBI single to bring the score to 14-8.
The A's made another attempt to catch up in the fifth, but only scored two run, still keeping it four runs away from the tie.
The Angels were not able to score any runs in the top of the sixth and all it had to do was hold the A's.
A nerve racking final inning for both teams ended with the A's only bringing in one run before the Angels got three outs. The Angels jumped, screamed and ran off the field with its first 14-11 win.
The Angels were led offensively by Grishaber, Stella and Dodge who all had three doubles.
Top hitters for the Athletics were Brock Cheney, Zach Schmidt and Andrew Boocher all contributing three singles each and Logan Ortiz-Leonard with a double and two singles.
The Angels advance to Saturday's playoff game at 11 a.m. at Fireman's Youth Park.