Canterbury High wins district title with dramatic 3-2 victory

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) — Canterbury High School defeated Evangelical Christian 3-2 to claim the district title and keep their back-to-back championship hopes alive on Friday.

Canterbury crushed Sarasota Christian 16-0 to advance to the championship game. The Cougars entered riding a nine-game win streak, but Evangelical Christian struck first.

In the top of the second inning, back-to-back doubles from the Sentinels brought home two runs, putting Canterbury behind early. The Cougars answered in the bottom half, loading the bases and pushing one run across to cut the deficit to 2-1.

"You think that we'd probably have a letdown from last year, because we won the state title last year, but they're more hungry and more excited to play," said Frank Turco, Canterbury's head coach.

The game turned into a defensive battle with pitchers dealing and both teams leaving runners on base. Canterbury starting pitcher Ian Long expressed confidence in his defense.

"I couldn't be more confident in my group of guys. I don't even need one strikeout. I could give them all the ground balls and pop flies in the world. I have all the trust in my guys to make plays," Long said.

That trust paid off in the fifth inning when a single up the middle tied the game at 2-2, shifting momentum back to the Cougars. The game came down to one swing from Ashby Piatt, who delivered the game-winning hit.

"I saw that pitch come in. I knew it was the one I wanted. Was waiting for it all night. I missed a couple fastballs with him in the game. Didn't get too upset about it. Moving on to the next play, once I saw the ball going to the gap, I knew they were scoring," Piatt said.