By Will Swary

DUBLIN- A season to remember continues for No. 15 Olentangy Orange as senior catcher Brai Beckel advanced his team to the regional finals with a three-run walk off home run for a 7-6 win over No. 35 Thomas Worthington.

The ballgame with the magical finish would start early as the first run would come for Orange in the 1st when senior Cole McCurry jacked a one out solo home run. Olentangy Orange would add another in the 3rd. when Dayton commitment Luke Wolford crossed the plate on a McCurry single, making it 2-0 after three innings

Thomas Worthington crossed their first run in the 4th when a Sean Lima double plated Dylan Holmes. The big inning for the Cardinals though would be in the 5th when back to back doubles by Nick Highley and Holmes scored a run a piece before a bases clearing triple by Nick Miller put an exclamation mark on the inning, giving Thomas Worthington a 5-2 advantage going in to the middle of the 5th.

Orange would get two back in the bottom of the 5th after a Wolford double and a walk to Brady Harris gave Brai Beckel the opportunity to knock in two runs, which he did with a two RBI single.

A scoreless 6th moved the game in to its final inning with the score 5-4 in favor of the Cardinals. Thomas Worthington would get some of the insurance they were looking for when they added one run in the top of the 7th on a failed double play turn off the bat of Kegan Lanter which allowed Wes Lindenmuth to score.

The score was 6-4 in the bottom of the 7th and Olentangy Orange was fully aware of what needed to happen for their season to continue. A leadoff error on the shortstop let Cole McCurry reach first and he would move to third after a double by Brady Harris. Following a strikeout by Paul Trick for the first out, Brai Beckel stepped to bat.  Beckel would take a tough curveball down and away to work the count to a favorable three and one. The next pitch was a fastball and Beckel didn’t miss it, driving a walk off home run over the left field wall and sending the well attended Orange crowd in to a frenzy of celebration.

Olentangy Orange isn’t done though in Dublin. They return today (5/25) to play No. 1 Grove City at 5:00 p.m. in the regional finals with the winner advancing to the state tournament.