ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP — Wednesday’s American Legion District 9 championship game was everything baseball should be.

The game between Ashtabula Rubber Company Post 103 and Strongsville Post 795 was the type of game that is played out in every 10-year-old’s dreams.

Bottom of the ninth. Score tied. A runner on second with no outs.

Do you bunt him over to third and wait for someone else to be the hero? Or do you go for the gusto and win it yourself. Get the girl, go home and be everyone’s trivia question for years to come?

If you’re Strongsville’s Ken Siedlecki, you go for door number 2.

The young second baseman singled home Joey Trivelli, who had led off the inning with a double with the winning run as Strongsville beat Ashtabula 9-8 at Walter Higgins Field to win the district championship.

It heads to Athens Aug. 4 to play for the state championship.

“I didn’t come here all the way to play it safe,” Siedlecki said. “Actually, it was an awesome feeling to get the game-winning hit. This is what you play the game for. You know at some point it’s going to come your turn and you’ve got to be ready to produce.”

Post 795 wasted little time as they went right to work in the first inning, scoring three runs on two hits against Ashtabula starter Sean McFarland. McFarland made it out of the first inning, but it was clear to Post 103 manager Bill Bodnar that McFarland didn’t have it. He replaced him with Nick Walker and it was the best move he could have made, as Walker stemmed the tide and gave Ashtabula a chance to get back into the game.

Post 103 got on the board in the third with a single run, but by the fifth inning Strongsville had extended its lead to 6-1. Things looked bleak for Post 103, but just when it had its back to the wall is when it got its composure together and put together a rally of its own.

Matt Gebhardt and Brian Rowan put a couple hits together along with a hit batsman. A balk and a wild pitch put leadoff hitter Max McConnell in perfect position to deliver, and boy did he ever. A single scored Gebhardt and Rowan, but Kenny Crockett (hit batsman) was gunned down on a fine 7-6-2 play at the plate. Benji Jarabeck followed that with a RBI double to draw Post 103 to within, 6-4.

In the eighth inning, Ashtabula took a 7-6 lead by scoring three runs on three timely hits by Kenny Crockett, McConnell and Mick Mohner, but Strongsville was up to the task as they went back up 8-7 as Tyler Vargo led off with a walk and advanced to second on a Zack DePalma single. Then Tyler Schultz singled to load the bases, and Sam Cracion singled home Vargo, and DePalma came home on a ground out.

“We knew coming in we would have to be prepared to play the full nine innings,” Post 795 manager Neil Packanic said.

“Ashtabula is a tough team. We lost to them 3-2 earlier this season, so we knew we would be in for a dogfight. I give them a lot of credit. They are a very good team,” Packanic said.

But Post 103 wasn’t finished yet. Crockett singled after there was one out and after McConnell struck out, Jarabeck was hit with a pitch. McFarland then laced a double to right, scoring Crockett, but Jarabeck was gunned down at the plate to leave it tied at 8-8.