Game 1: North Central 16, Fishers 11
R H E LOB
NCHS 0 0 0 1 9 3 3-- 16 15 0 6
FHS 0 3 3 0 2 0 3-- 11 16 4 5
When the state tournament starts, no matter what sport we're talking about, there's something that people say and I think that it's as true as can be. Throw the regular season records out the window, because everyone starts Sectional play with a clean slate, despite what they did or didn't do during the regular season. Tonight's first game of the Class 4A Sectional 8 tournament at Noblesville was nothing short of that.
The 7-8-9 hitters of the Fishers batting order got the Tigers scoring started with two outs in the bottom of the second off North Central starting pitcher Mac Lozer. With two down and a one-two count, Jon Cordell lined a single to left. Next up, Cameron VanderBerg stroked a two-run home run over the left field fence and onto State Road 32, nearly hitting a car on the bounce. Parker Lasch followed VanderBerg with a solo home run to left-center for back-to-back long balls for Fishers and a 3-0 lead after two innings.
They kept the scoring going with three more in the third. Woolwine's single to left center continued the charge. He was driven over to third with a JP Pena to left, giving FHS runners at the corners. Designated hitter Blake Baumgartner then hit a sacrifice fly to left, driving Woolwine home for a 4-0 margin. Two pitches later, Clay Small also found the other side of the left field wall for a two-run shot of his own. Fishers was now up 6-0 after three innings and looked to be cruising right along to a semi-final matchup with Noblesville. Think again.
Mark Smith and Justin Short led the fourth off for the Panthers with two straight walks and Ben Breymier's infield single loaded the bases, showing real signs of life at the plate for the first time tonight for North Central. Roman Baisa's fielder's choice brought home Smith to take the Panthers' goose egg off the scoreboard and bring their deficit to 6-1.
After reliever Seth Parrish sent the Tigers down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fourth, North Central got focused on the task at hand. Catcher Demetrius Webb walked and scored on Andrew Riley's towering home run to left, narrowing the gap at 6-3. Parrish and Smith both reached on consecutive at-bats by way of errors by 3B Parker Lasch. Short singled to shallow left center to scored Parrish. Breymier walked to load the bags with Panthers. Baisa grounded a ball up the middle for an RBI-single to score Smith. Short scored on Jacob Zeller's fielder's choice and Baisa was forced out at second. Lucas Moehle hit a deep one-hop over the fence in center for a ground-rule double, scoring Breymier and Zeller for a 7-6 NC advantage. Drew Clark might not have been the best relieft option to spell reliever Jon Simonett. The top of the fifth was capped off by a three-run homer to deep right center by Riley and North Central now leading 10-6.
A pretty darn good effort for North Central in the fifth. Nine runs, five hits, two Fishers errors and none left on base for the Panthers. Andrew Riley showed his clout as the leadoff man with a two-run and three-run home run for five RBI's from his two long balls.
Seth Parrish got back on the mound in the Fishers half of the fifth with a comfortable four run lead, but not for long. Woolwine led off an inning for the second time in as many at-bats with a single. After Pena struck out, Baumgartner legged out an infield single, giving the Tigers a pair of baserunners. Clay Small K'd for two outs and hope of putting a dent in the Panther lead was dimming. Cordell knocked a single into right, just behind second base to load the bases. Cameron VanderBerg kept filling up his line of the stat sheet with a two-run single to left, scoring Woolwine and pinch runner Cory Reed. Fishers now trailed 10-8 after five innings complete.
North Central had no let up in them on Wednesday night (5/23). They tallied three more runs in the top of the sixth. Mark Smith led off singling to right. Breymier dropped a single down in front of the left fielder VanderBerg. Roman Baisa layed down a perfect bunt single to, once again, give the Panthers runners at every base. Zeller smoked a two-run single to right, Smith and Breymier scored with ease. NCHS lengthened its lead to 13-8 when Lucas Moehle smacked an RBI-single to right.
Nothing doing for Fishers in the sixth except for a Garret Schlotter single, but he was left on base for the second of three times reaching base.
North Central wasn't done scoring. Smith led off with a single to left. Short walked. Ball four was a wild pitch by Tiger reliever Justin Rhodes. Two Panthers now on base. Baisa drove in RBI's two and three with a single and eventually scored on an error by right fielder Jon Cordell. Coach Phil McIntyre's squad was in complete control up 16-8, but still had the bottom of the seventh to play defensively.
Parrish had already pitched 4.2 relieft innings and it was a wonder if he'd last through the bottom of the Fishers order in the last of the 7th. He struck out Baumgartner, but allowed a single from Small and a walk to Cordell before he was pulled in favor of Jensen Kirch. On the hook for the two baserunners aboard, Parrish left the game hoping for just some great defense by his teammates to keep the win in their hands. Four pitches later, VanderBerg hit his second home run of the game, a three-run bomb to left to ignite the Fishers crowd and bench. Lasch was hit with an 0-1 pitch right in the back. Drew Clark struck out for the second out and Fishers clinging to life with a runner on and trailing by five. Garret Schlotter found his way to first with an infield single, but this is where smart base running should have come into play. Schlotter's hit advanced Lasch to second, but he rounded the bag just a little too far. Andrew Riley had the ball in hand at shortstop and easily tossed the ball to second baseman Andrew Sullivan for the tagout of Lasch to end the game, the Tigers' bottom of the seventh threat and their season, all in a couple seconds.
Fishers said goodbye to a great core of seniors on Wednesday night and they obviously went out with quite a bang. Cordell, Lasch, Pena, Clark, VanderBerg, Small, Rhodes and Woolwine will be sorely missed in the field and at the plate for Matthew Cherry's Tigers, who finished 22-9 this season. FHS was led at the plate by Cameron VanderBerg with a stellar 4-for-4 night with 7 RBI's, two runs scored, a pair of home runs (two-run and three-run) and a couple singles between the roundtrippers. Schlotter, Woolwine and Small each had two hits, one of Small's being a two-run shot.
With the stunning victory, North Central advances to the first game of the day on Monday, Memorial Day, to face the host school,Noblesville, at 11 a.m.
Riley topped the Panthers with two home runs and five RBI's. Mark Smith went 3-of-3 and scored 4 runs. Baisa also carried a big stick, going 3-4 with 3 RBI's and a couple runs. Ben Breymier, Jacob Zeller and Lucas Moehle all contributed two hits apiece for North Central.
Games 2 and 3 on Friday night feature a couple rivalry games. 4A #5 Zionsville (23-5) matches up with fellow Hoosier Crossroads Conference rival Hamilton Southeastern (19-10) in the first game at 5:30. The Eagles swept the Royals in HCC play 9-2 and 3-2 in the regular season.
Around 8pm, Westfield (16-12) tangles with Carmel (9-20) for the right to play in the semifinals on Monday. The Rocks beat the Greyhounds at home in their regular season matchup in late March, 9-4.
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