OLMSTED FALLS — Westlake and Olmsted Falls both lost Wednesday afternoon, making Thursday’s clash of Southwestern Conference contenders just a little more important.
After all, it wouldn’t do to slip too far off the league pace, now would it?
That’s something the Demons don’t have to worry about, not after doubling up the Bulldogs 14-7. The win moves the Demons to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in the SWC, while Falls falls to 6-3 and 2-3.
“I thought we hit the ball much better than we have been,” Westlake coach Jeff Short said. “Today we had a much better eye in the batter’s box and we got some big hits at opportune times. I think that Wil (Shortreed), Kevin (Adamczyk) and Alex (Kanareff) all hit the ball really well.
“This is a huge win. They had a tough loss yesterday and so did we, so this was an important game for both teams. We battled and we’re happy to come out of here with a win today.”
It was the Bulldogs who drew first blood, however, when they got to Nick DeMoss in the bottom of the second inning. The Bulldogs took advantage of a pair of Westlake errors to put up four runs.
Although errors have been a problem for the Demons this season, they made up for the lapses in the top of the third.
A leadoff single by Dan Krauss got the ball rolling and walks to James DiBiasio and Jamal Abed loaded the bases with one out. A sacrifice fly deep to left field by Alex Pandrangi brought home both Krauss and DiBiasio. Then a pair of errors helped Westlake score another three runs to grab a 5-4 lead.
“You can’t give a team like Westlake four or five outs an inning,” Olmsted Falls coach Richard Szalay said. “They’re too good of a team. They don’t need our help.”
Westlake’s lead didn’t last long though. An RBI single by Olmsted Falls’ Matt Halata tied the game at 5 and the Bulldogs added another run to go ahead 6-5 after three.
Westlake came right back, loading the bases with three straight walks in the top of the fourth. A hit by Alex Pandrangi brought home a pair of runs to chase Falls pitcher Scott Kimmey. Kanareff drove in two more to put the Demons up 9-6.
“We started slow but we came around and started hitting,” Kanareff said. “Hopefully we can sustain it for the rest of the season. We haven’t hit the ball really well yet, but today we did a nice job of it.”
DeMoss retired six of the next seven batters before heading to the bench with his team leading 10-7.
“I got in trouble out there a couple of times but coach kept me in there and let me work through it,” said DeMoss, who improved to 3-0.

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