Perry and Lake Catholic combined for more runs in the eighth inning than they did in regulation of their Division IV district semifinal May 26, and the final run made the difference.

Chase Sivon came to the plate with the bases loaded and two out. He sent one to shallow center field, and the Cougars defender made a dive for the ball. But it bounced out of his mitt as the final run came across the plate.

Perry took the win, 12-11, and advanced to a Division IV district final May 28 at John Carroll. The Pirates will take on Canton Central Catholic.

“I saw the bases loaded and knew I just had to put the ball in play,” Sivon said. “It’s what I’ve been doing all season. We had to get it in play. When we went down, we were able to get walks, battle back in counts and find ways to score.”

Perry took the lead in the first inning. The two lead-off batters of Sivon and Sheamus Matson reached on hits, and Trent Taylor drove in a run.

But both starting pitchers had strong showings. Perry's Connor D'Astolfo and Lake Catholic's Tyler Hribar limited the damage through their starts.

But neither side was able to find strikes, rather trusting their fielding with pitching to contact.

Perry coach Matt Platt said that even with some fielding errors, the pitching staff had faith in the defense behind them.

"I've said it all year, he has no problems pitching with runners on base," Platt said. "Pitching in traffic, he knows how to get his heart rate down. He's just a very good indication of a senior pitcher. He's someone who's been around a lot and has some experience."

Lake Catholic tied the game in the top of the fourth with a single from Patrick Martin. But that was answered in the bottom of the frame, with both Nick Gustin and Sivon driving one in each for the Pirates.

Lake Catholic responded again in the fifth with a Brayden Mann single. But once again Perry responded with a single from Carter Crofoot. Platt said it was going to be important to find ways to generate runs.

"We talked about never stop competing," Platt said. "Lake just made a run, we can come back. We have to be able to tough out games. Be a tough out and that's been a mark of the program since I got here, and that's what we did this game as well."

The Pirates added a pair with Matson and Taylor pushing one across each. But then the Lake Catholic runs started coming.

With the bases loaded and no outs, a pair of bases loaded walks drew it within two and a two-run single from Quinn Stayer drew the game even at 6-6.

Perry was unable to respond and went to the bottom of the frame, and it went to extras.

Lake Catholic took its first lead in the game with a single from Hribar and another came from Micah Nyetrae. Josh Howman added another on a single and two more bases-loaded hit by pitches made it 11-6 going to the bottom of the eighth.

Matson got Perry on the board again with a single and the Pirates scored on an error, a pair of bases-loaded walks and a hit by pitch.

Sivon then came up with two outs and sent his hit into center for the game-winning run.

"We've all put in the work," Sivon said. "One of our friends has a barn that we go and hit at every day before a game. So we have the confidence there and know that we can put the ball in play."

Platt added: "You try to minimize what's going wrong. On mound visits, I tell them to limit runs, make the routine play and get the outs. Don't over complicate the situation. Get yourself out of that. That's kind of what we talk about, simplifying situations and doing your part."