Maumee, Anthony Wayne advance to semifinals

Maumee pitcher Steve Duby, right, celebrates his no-hitter against Perrysburg with catcher Brad Cousino during the Division I sectional final on Thursday. The Panthers beat rival Perrysburg 4-0.

BOWLING GREEN -- Maumee right-hander Steve Duby took ownership of the pitching mound early against Perrysburg in a Division I sectional final on Thursday afternoon at Carter Park.

Duby never let up on his way to throwing a no-hitter to lead the Panthers to a 4-0 shutout over the rival Yellow Jackets.

"This was awesome to get the job done with my teammates," Duby said. "We all hit the ball well and played great defense. It feels good."

Maumee catcher Brad Cousino was the first teammate to reach the mound and congratulate Duby after securing the final out of the game with his 10th strikeout of the contest. Duby hit a batter in the fourth and walked a batter in the fifth to deny him from recording a perfect game.

Yet, that didn't take away from the dominant pitching performance.

"He was throwing the best that I've seen him throw all year," Cousino said of Duby, who was also 4-for-4 at the plate with an RBI. "He stayed within himself.

"This was the best experience I've ever had catching in my life."

PHOTO GALLERY: Perrysburg vs. Maumee

In the other D-I sectional final, Anthony Wayne topped Fremont Ross 7-1 in a contest that remained scoreless through four innings before the Generals took advantage of some fielding miscues by the Little Giants to score six runs in the fifth inning.

Maumee (14-7) produced all of its runs in the second inning off Yellow Jackets right-hander Nick Munger to provide plenty of cushion for Duby. The Panthers rallied with two outs for four runs on five hits, including three doubles.

An infield single by Ray Secondo drove home David McCrum to make it 1-0. McCrum, who started the rally with a two-out double, beat out a throw to home after Secondo was called safe at first base.

Billy Laranga followed with a single before Justin Koepfer blasted a two-run double to make it 3-0. Duby made it 4-0 with a single to right.

Yet, it was Duby's work on the mound -- 101 pitches total -- that really summed up the evening for the Panthers.

"He was very good," Maumee coach Cam Coutcher said. "We knew from the first inning that he had all his stuff for all four pitches. He was throwing for strikes and he was working ahead of batters."

Perrysburg coach Dave Hall credited Duby for putting together a pitching effort that kept the Yellow Jackets (12-9) off balance at the plate.

"He pitched pretty well and you can't take anything away from what he did," Hall said. "Even when he got behind [in the count] he threw it right down our throats."

AW pitcher Jake Chipka and Ross starter T.J. Harkness were locked in a pitcher's duel through the first four innings of their contest before the Little Giants (14-10) got to Chipka for a run in the fifth to go up 1-0. The run was unearned because of an infield error.

AW (20-1) responded in its half of the fifth by pushing six runs across on two hits, two walks and a pair of errors committed by the Little Giants.

Matt Olsavsky hit a run-scoring single with the bases loaded to give the Generals a 2-1 lead. Josh Lindke made it 3-1 when he forced a run across the plate by recording a walk with the bases loaded. Jordan Nell connected on a two-run single during the frame to make it 6-1.

"That kid did a nice job of keeping us off balance," AW coach Mark Nell said of Harkness, who limited AW to five hits. "Give him credit. He got out of some jams.

"We finally started hitting some grounders and we got a couple of hits, but we struggled with the bats."

Deion Tansel recorded a single and a double while Hunter Lonseth also registered a double for the Generals. Chipka earned the win after allowing a run off six hits and striking out four.

Maumee will face the Norwalk-Mansfield Madison winner in a district semifinal while AW will meet Ashland in the other district semifinal on Thursday at Carter Park.

Contact Donald Emmons at: demmons@theblade.com, 419-724-6302, or on Twitter @DemmonsBlade.