Canton 3 – Salmon River 2
Canton traveled up to Fort Covington to face the top seeded Shamrocks. Over the past few years, a bitter rivalry has emerged between the Bears and the Shamrocks. Senior Erich Zuhlsdorf led off the game with a single, but Senior David Zuhlsdorf popped his bunt up, leading to a double play. However, the Bears were confident because David Zuhlsdorf was on the mound for them. He allowed just one hit through the first five innings, but the Bears offense was silenced by Salmon’s Caiden Cartier. Tensions began to rise as the game stayed 0-0 deeper and deeper into the game. Senior Nate Romano led off the top of the sixth with a ground rule double over the right field fence, and scored on Senior Luke Wentworth’s single. Wentworth came around later in that inning on Freshman Gavin Schryver’s RBI knock. Salmon bounced back in the bottom of the inning, as they scored two off of stolen bases and bunts. Erich Zuhlsdorf got hit in the head with the first pitch in the seventh, and threw his bat in anger. The Bears turned that anger into motivation, as Erich Zuhlsdorf scored off of a big error by Salmon’s third baseman off of a David Zuhlsdorf bunt. David Zuhlsdorf set down the Shamrocks in order to seal the massive win for the Bears.
David Zuhlsdorf finished with 7 IP, 1 ER, 13 Ks and 2 Hits. Romano, Schryver, and Wentworth each added two hits.
Canton 2 – OFA 5
The Bears held their last regular season game on Friday against the Blue Devils. The Bears were pretty much set to have the third seed in the class C playoffs, but OFA was fighting for the second seed in the class B playoffs. It was obvious from the first pitch that the Bears lacked the intensity they had the night before against the Shamrocks. Tyler Sovie tripled and scored in the first inning off of Sophomore Charlie Todd. They added another in the third as Luca Labella scored off of Camden Griffith’s single. Haydin McDonald added a two run single to get the lead to 4-0 OFA. The Bears got one back as Sophomore Matt Bradish-Hayes scored on a wild pitch. Erich Zuhlsdorf scored on an RBI double from Romano, but the Bears couldn’t overcome the deficit as the fell to OFA, 5-2.
Todd finished with 7 IP, 3 ER, 5 Ks, 6 Hits. Romano had two doubles and Todd walked three times.
Canton 19 – SLC 4
The Bears (#3) hosted SLC (#6) in the first round of playoffs on Saturday. The Bears took a 7-0 lead in the first to back Freshman Zadok Roiger. In the second inning, Erich Zuhlsdorf hit a grand slam that landed over by the concession stand. The homer marked the first grand slam on the new field and the first Golden Bear homerun since Jack Finnerty in 2019. The Bears were up 19-0 after three innings, and Junior Brandon O’Shea came in to pitch the final two innings. “Jebediah,” as he is referred to by his teammates, was dominant on the mound. He had four strikeouts in two innings, and only gave up one earned run. The Bears won 19-4 in five innings.
Canton 6 – Tupper Lake 4
Canton traveled to Tupper Lake for a playoff semifinal matchup against the Lumberjacks. Tupper (#2) finished the regular season at 11-3. The Lumberjacks were greeted by an overwhelming Canton offense in the top of the first, as they scored four runs. Todd started the game on the mound for the Bears, and Tupper scored two runs in the bottom of the inning. Coach Caufield decided to put David Zuhlsdorf on the mound in the second inning in an attempt to quiet the Lumberjack offense. After a scoreless second, Tupper tacked on a run in the bottom of the third to make it 4-3 Bears. Erich Zuhlsdorf scored off of a single by Romano to make it 5-3. Wentworth scored on an RBI by Schryver to make it 6-3. Todd lead off the fifth with a triple, but was stranded at third base. The Lumberjacks added one in the bottom of the sixth, but were shut down in the seventh by David Zuhlsdorf.
Zuhlsdorf had 6 IP, 1 ER, 11 Ks and 5 hits against. Wentworth led the offense with three hits and two stolen bases.
The Bears play in the Section X Championship at 5:00pm Wednesday vs Norwood-Norfolk at SLU.