Guth had Sharon batters buffaloed all night. Weak swings were common and only about three solid bats hit the hard ball. But all three ended up in a Franklin mitt.
"I got to hand it to that kid," one spectator from the Sharon side of the stadium uttered as he left the field. He was talking about Guth.
Franklin came to bat and got a lead off double. But not much more happened. A walk would lead to two stranded runners at the end of the first. This would become a theme. Walks and errors put many Frankin runners on base, but no results.
Meanwhile Guth gave up some little dings that either ended up as outs immediately or as a result of a double play or pick off.
He pitched a near perfect game.
Then in the 5th inning three hits ended up leading to three runs for the Knights.
That was all they needed as Guth shut down the Sharon squad including striking out the side again in the sixth. Franklin left one more runner on base in the bottom of the sixth, but Guth shut down the Tigers in the final inning for the win.
Usually the team that only leaves one base runner on will beat the team that leaves eight or nine, but in Sharon's case they only left one runner on base because at the end of each inning those that came to bat got out either because of Guth's dominance or getting caught on the bases. Again, he only faced 22 batters. It was a near perfect performance by the sophomore.
Franklin advances.
This is a pretty solid young team.