ACME: Knights to face Elida, not Shawnee

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

ELIDA — The path to the ACME baseball state tournament has taken some bizarre twists and turns.

The Crestview Knights (8-9) have put together four consecutive tournament wins and are one victory away from advancing to the state tournament. The Knights were forced to rally to win three of those four games.

Crestview was supposed to face Shawnee for the district title. After topping Van Wert 10-5 in Saturday’s elimination game, the Indians beat Elida 8-6 in a must-win game on Sunday.

But according to district tournament manager Todd Grapner, Shawnee used an ineligible pitcher in that game, and must forfeit the victory.

That means instead of a rematch with Shawnee, Crestview will play Elida again at 6 p.m. tonight. To make things even more interesting, there are two possible outcomes. If Crestview wins, the Knights will claim the district championship and advance to the ACME state tournament. If Elida wins, the two teams will square off again tomorrow for the right to go to the state tournament.

There’s one more strange twist. Even though Shawnee had to forfeit Sunday’s game, the Indians will still play in next week’s state tournament. That’s because Shawnee is the host school for the state tournament, and is automatically entered into the state tournament.