Carlisle scores 5 in the 5th to rally past Marion in Class 3A state baseball tournament quarterfinal

IOWA CITY — Despite what you might see sometimes in big league games, kids, it’s OK to hustle down the first-base line after you hit what seems to be a routine grounder.

More than OK. It’s encouraged.

You never know what can happen when you do. What happened Monday afternoon at the state baseball tournament was the beginning of a winning rally.

Carlisle pieced together five runs in the top of the fifth inning to beat Marion, 5-2, in a Class 3A quarterfinal at Banks Field. As innocuous as it seemed, Joe Goodhue’s infield single to shortstop was the start of it all.

“We’ve had a lot of close games, especially early in the year,” Goodhue said. “The important thing for us is to just stay competitive and keep our heads on straight.”

Goodhue’s chopper to shortstop was followed by a walk and another scratch hit, a single by Ryan Petersen that wasn’t hit especially hard but glanced off the shoe of Marion pitcher Isaac Scott and toward short second base.

Scott grazed Tate Heidemann with a backup curveball to bring in a run and make it 2-1 Marion. Reliever Austin Goodrich struck out Joey Marker swinging at a 3-2 pitch for a huge second out, but Carson Guthrie followed with a bouncer up the middle that just eluded Marion shortstop Myles Davis to tie the game.

Then Trey Lee pulled a line drive just fair down the right-field line to clear the bases, his triple making it 5-2. Carlisle (23-12) hit just three balls out of the infield the entire game: a flyout, Guthrie’s seeing-eye hit and Lee’s perfectly placed scorcher.

“One of those games where you have one bad inning,” said Marion Coach Steve Fish. “I thought our effort was good. We just had one bad inning. Their pitchers kept us off balance. Tip your hat to Carlisle. They did what they had to do to win.”

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Photos: Marion vs. Carlisle in state baseball quarterfinals

“The (Petersen ball off the pitcher), that was our inning-ending double-play ball,” Davis said. “It happens. Pretty tough. We played to what we could today. We just came up short.”

Marion (30-7) got a run in the bottom of the first on Kaden Frommelt’s RBI triple to the fence in left-center field. It added another run in the third on a pair of walks, a wild pitch and Scott’s sacrifice fly to right.

The Wolves had back-to-back singles with one out in the sixth but nothing came of it. Davis doubled in the seventh with one away but two outs followed.

The sixth-seeded Wildcats oppose Raccoon River Conference rival North Polk in Wednesday’s semifinals. Third-seeded Marion settles for a fifth state tournament berth in the last seven years.

It very well could be six and eight next season, considering Frommelt is the lone senior on this team. Davis, a University of Iowa commit who hopes to be an MLB draft pick, said he intends to play for Marion in 2024.

“Proud of this team,” said Frommelt, a DMACC signee. “No matter what, 30 wins is still impressive. I’ll be behind them next year. I definitely expect them to be back here. I’ll be sitting in the stands watching them.”

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