LITCHFIELD — For Max Leitschuh, simply being back in the dugout wearing the Purple Panthers uniform meant everything to his teammates. But what the Litchfield senior can do with a bat quickly became the centerpiece of a stunning 11-6 South Central Conference comeback win over Gillespie on Friday.
Leitschuh had been sidelined since April 16, when he suffered a fractured right thumb and a torn ligament during a 13-0 victory over Belleville Althoff. He suited up for the first time since that injury on Friday. His first two at-bats were unremarkable — a strikeout looking with two on and two outs in the first inning, followed by a flyout to right field in the second.
But with Gillespie leading 6-0 in the bottom of the sixth, two on and two outs, Leitschuh drilled a two-run double to left field. He scored two batters later on a single by Tucker Pastrovich, giving Litchfield an 8-6 lead. In his second plate appearance of the same inning, Leitschuh delivered again, smacking a bases-loaded double to left to cap the Panthers’ 11-run outburst.
“I was just trying to get back into the comfort zone — get a base hit here and a base hit there instead of trying to crush the ball,” Leitschuh said. “Just be smooth with it, consistent. That’s what I got to do to be a winner.”
Litchfield had gone 7-4 without Leitschuh in the lineup, improving to 17-11 overall and 7-3 in the SCC with the win. Coach Rocky Giannuzzi praised his team’s resilience: “(Credit to) my kids for not quitting. All that was with two outs the entire time, which is insane. It started off with Max with that double and just kept on going from there. Our team’s the kind of team — you give them a little bit of energy, then they just start rolling.”
Gillespie (14-6, 6-2) had taken a 6-0 lead in the top of the second inning, with Brayden Enslow reaching on an error by first baseman Pastrovich to start the rally. The Miners’ carousel of pitchers held Litchfield hitless through five innings before the dramatic turnaround.
