Piedmont’s Dimitri Papahadjopoulos and Peter Krumins felt the joy, the sense of relief as Krumins crossed home plate.
Moments after Krumins belted a triple to the left field wall, Papahadjopoulos roped a single to right field, which scored Krumins in the bottom half of the 12th inning to give Piedmont a 4-3 victory over Branson in the first round of the North Coast Section Division 4 baseball playoffs.
But it was not just a playoff win, which was already exciting enough and guaranteed at least one more game to this season. It was a game that spanned two days and 12 innings after the game was suspended after 11 innings at 8 p.m. Wednesday due to darkness.
“I was ecstatic,” Papahadjopolous said. “I was hyped.”
“I was relieved because I was stressing the whole day about this game, thinking about it 24/7,” Krumins said. “When Dimitri, hit that ball, all the stress left my body.”
After the 11th inning completed Wednesday, both head coaches met with the umpires on the field to discuss the next steps.
The umpires asked for the books to make sure everything was secured for when this game was resumed, to ensure everything with lineups, substitutions and all else was in order for when the game resumed.
It was in the North Coast Section’s hands to determine the course of action, which resulted in a 5 p.m. resuming at 5 p.m. Thursday at the same spot: Piedmont’s Witter Field.
That meant going back home and going to school still in the middle of a certain game, uncertain of the future that awaited in the NCS playoffs. Or if there was a future depending on how the continuation went.
“This whole day, we were basically in the middle of an inning,” Krumins said. “When they called the game, we were basically in the middle. Personally, for me it was hard to stay locked in through the whole day. It’s crazy.”
As Piedmont players returned to school the next day, it was all they could think about.
Their group chat was off the hook. All the players spoke in one chat on Snapchat, discussing the importance of what was to come. Be locked in from the jump, be locked in on each pitch, each at-bat, each ground ball.
Because, if they were locked in as soon as warmups began, that meant the outcome could go in their favor. Perhaps needing just one inning to take the victory and get back to practice immediately following the game.
“We were just talking 24/7 on how we’ve got to win this,” Krumins said. “Everybody on this team sent at least one message about staying locked in for this game. We were all locked in.”
Senior shortstop Michael Aikawa was at the forefront of the charge, telling players to celebrate everything. Every pitch. Every out from the defense. Every double play.
Branson started off the 12th with a leadoff single. Then, what happened was exactly what Aikawa preached.
A double play.
Seve Sanchez’s pitch was hit right to Aikawa, who jumpstarted the 6-4-3 double play, followed by a grounder to second base to complete the shutout frame. In the span of less than 10 pitches, Piedmont’s offense delivered.
And, after a three-hour time on the diamond Wednesday, it took just 10 minutes of gametime Thursday to complete the instant classic.
“If we just kept celebrating the little things in a row, the big celebration would come,” Krumins said. “That’s what happened.”
Now, Piedmont readies for its quarterfinals tilt at Fortuna at 7 p.m. Saturday at Newburg Park in Fortuna, which all began minutes following its Thursday celebration, getting back onto the field, taking grounders, fly ball and preparing to potentially extend its season into the Final Four of the North Coast Section.
