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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels July 21, 2004 Pilot baseball wraps up another summer By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Mercifully, the Ashland Pilots season has come to an end. Pilots catcher Griff Solinger talks strategy with pitcher Andrew Del Carlo toward the end of Game 2 on Tuesday. Ashland mounted a three-run comeback in the seventh inning against Central Point, but it wasn't enough to win the season-ending game. Denise Barrata | Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland's American Legion A baseball team was swept by Central Point 12-6 and 5-3 Tuesday at North Mountain Park, closing the curtain on what turned out to be the worst summer in squad history. The Pilots finished 2-23-2 overall, including 2-20-2 in Area 4 play, and finished the season on a 14-game winless streak that included the two ties. "Not very good," Ashland pitcher/infielder Wes Dodds said moments after the team broke its final postgame huddle. "I thought we could have had some wins in us, but you know, the games that we did have close, we tied. It was a tough season to get through, but I guess a bunch of guys got better so that's all that really matters. We'll play better next year, hopefully." Game 1 The visiting Comets, who remained in the hunt for an Area 4 playoff berth, ran out to a 10-0 lead through three-and-a-half innings of the opener before the Pilots woke up. Six of those runs were scored with two outs in the fourth, when Shane Ogle's walk and Tyler Davis� follow-up double opened the flood gates. Ashland had mini-rallies in the fourth, fifth and seventh, but could not get closer than six the rest of the way. Griff Sollinger started on the mound for Ashland and Dodds took over in the fifth. Both were sporadic - Sollinger walked two batters and hit another in the fourth inning alone - but didn't get much help from Ashland's defense either. Continuing a trend that was a back-breaker all season, the Pilots' infield committed four errors in Game 1. "I don't think we played well together," Pilots second-baseman Aaron Decker said. Josh Zelecki started for the Comets and Daniel Lovemark took over at the start of the fifth. Game 2 The second game was much more competitive Tyler Schmidt scored on a passed ball and Ogle drove home another run with a sacrifice fly to give Central Point a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Schmidt's run-scoring single to left upped the Comets' advantage to 3-0 in the fifth, and Davis added an RBI-single for a 4-0 cushion in the sixth. The Pilots made a game of it in the bottom of the sixth, scoring three runs of their own on four hits and a walk. Sollinger started the rally with a one-out double to left-center off starter Chris Thomas. Four batters later, Dodds cranked a 3-2 pitch into center field for an RBI single. Thomas, who picked up the complete game victory, struck out two straight Pilots with the bases loaded to preserve the Comets' 4-3 lead. Central Point added an insurance run in the seventh when Chuckie Grabowski scored from third as the Pilots tried to pick off Charlie Reina in a rundown between first and second. Ashland's last gasp proved to be just that, as the Pilots went down in order in a bottom of the seventh. Thomas struck out Gus Gaviglio looking to end the Pilots' season. "I don't think it's a lost year at all," Pilots coach Hank Munn said. "Hopefully the kids learned that they need to grow up and be a lot more mentally tough. It was obviously a tough year. They need to learn how to bounce back when their backs are against the wall. "I'm hoping something like this will make them grow, but I'm not sure yet." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams