Amherst Tops Westlake 1-0 to Capture Sectional Crown

AMHERST— The Amherst Comets continue adding to their trophy case.

After winning the Southwestern Conference title earlier this week, the Comets claimed the sectional title with a 1-0 win over the Westlake Demons.

Evan Shawver was the star of the show for Amherst, notching 14 strikeouts while only giving up three hits and two walks in his third win of the season. Shawver also drove in the only run of the game with an RBI double in the third inning that plated Hunter Cassidy.

Friday marked the second time the Comets faced off against the Demons this week. The two teams played on Tuesday on Amherst’s senior day, when the Comets won 13-0 and captured the conference title.

“I told the guys I don’t care if the final score is 1-0, 13-12, 18-2, at this point you win, you go to the next game and you don’t worry about it,” Amherst head coach Matt Rositano said following the win.

The Comets only recorded five hits off of Westlake’s Billy Blood, who struck out five and only gave up one walk.

“I thought he pitched a great game. I thought he kept our hitters off balance a little bit, hit his spots, and we had trouble stringing stuff together there,” Rositano said of Blood’s performance.

The only run of the game happened in the third inning. Cassidy recorded a single for the Comets and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Jeremy Smith. That’s when Shawver hit a bomb double to left field to plate Cassidy.

“It felt good because I’ve been struggling the past few games hitting, so when I came up I knew I needed to get it done if I wanted to keep on playing and move on to the next round, so I just tried to stay on the fastball,” Shawver said.

As far as Shawver’s pitching, he struggled in the first inning, walking Westlake’s Connor Sternerkert and giving up a single to Michael Parfejeweic.

His fastball was lethal enough to get him out of the inning, however, as he finished by striking out the side. He went on to strike out the side two more times in the second and fifth innings.

By midway through the third inning, Shawver found his curveball and did not give up another hit for the rest of the game.

When all was said and done, he struck out each batter in Westlake’s lineup at least once.

The Comets have accomplished the first two goals they set for themselves this season, but they are far from complacent heading into the district semifinals next week.

“You set yourself goals in the beginning of the year, and we’ve hit the first two, and now we’ll go on and try and get the third one next week,” Rositano said when asked about continuing on in the district tournament.

The Comets advance to the district semifinals and will take on the Midview Middies Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. at the Lorain Pipe Yard.