Carroll Claims Sectional 5 Title

By Ben Grossberg

Fort Wayne – The first semifinal had host Carroll and Northrop facing off. The game featured a great pitcher’s duel between two seniors, Mason Neuman for Carroll and Tyler Huth for Northrop.

Through three innings each pitcher had allowed only one hit, but in the fourth both teams got on the scoreboard.

In the top of the inning Ross Koble led off with a single into left. He moved to second on a passed ball, to third on a ground out, and scored on another passed ball to give Carroll a 1-0 lead.

Northrop came back though in the bottom of the inning. Huth, Corey Bloom, and Matt Bandor all singled to load the bases with no outs. Justin Bair hit a groundball to short, with the defense surrendering the run and looking for a double play. The throw from short to second was high and sailed into left field allowing two runs to score.

Both pitchers worked easily through the fifth and the sixth and the game headed to the seventh with a 2-1 Northrop lead.

Huth struck out the first batter of the inning, but hit Grant Inman to put a runner on with one out. A wild pitch moved Inman into scoring position and a groundout sent him to third. Neuman came up, with Carroll down to their final out and lined a ball into the left center field gap for a game tying double.

In the bottom of the inning Northrop loaded the bases with two outs, but Neuman struck out the next batter to send the game into extras.

In the top of the eighth Luke Brunner reached on an error to start the inning. He was moved to second on a sac bunt and Koble drove him in with a single up the middle to give Carroll the lead. Koble advanced to second on the throw home and after a strikeout, Inman delivered with a RBI single of his own to put Carroll up 4-2.

In the bottom of the eighth, Neuman came back out to finish off the complete game win. He gave up a leadoff single, but retired the next two batters. An error put the winning run on base, but Neuman got the next batter to hit into an out to end the game, sending Carroll to the Sectional 5 Title game.

 

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The second semifinal had another great pitching duel for most of the game between Columbia City and Snider. Columbia City sent unsigned Senior Jordan Bickle to the mound to face off against IPFW commit Brandon Phelps.

Columbia City got on the board in the first with a run. Andrew Biggs led off the game with a single and Keaton Reed was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. A fielder’s choice left runners at the corners and a catcher’s interference loaded the bases. A passed ball gave Columbia City the run they needed.

Bickle was dominant on the mound sitting 84-87 throughout the night. He set the first 10 batters down in order, giving up his first hit in the fourth inning.

The fifth inning looked like Snider’s chance to tie the game. Addison Dellinger led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a sac bunt. After a passed ball moved him to third, a groundball back to Bickle put Dellinger in a rundown. Columbia City was able to get the out and Bickle retired the next batter to end the inning.

Columbia City provided Bickle with some insurance runs in the top of the sixth thanks to the bat of Austin McCormick. With two outs and the bases loaded McCormick drove a ball over the left field fence for a grand slam pushing Columbia City’s lead to 5-0.

Five runs were more than enough for Bickle. He got into a little trouble in the sixth with two runners on and one out, but he got a ground ball double play to end the inning. In the seventh he struck out what would have been the last hitter of the game, but the ball got by the catcher to put a runner on. Bickle went back to the mound and retired the next batter to finish off the two hit shutout. He finished the game with seven strikeouts and Columbia City advanced to the championship game against Carroll.

 

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In the Championship game both teams had opportunities for big innings, but Carroll was able to take advantage more than Columbia City.

Carroll got on the board early with two runs in the top of the first. After the first two batters of the inning struck out, Drue Tranquill reached on an infield single and stole second. Grant Inman singled and advanced to second on the throw to the plate. With runners now on second and third Matthieu Meihls came up and singled bringing both runs in for a 2-0 Carroll lead.

In the bottom of the inning Inman recorded a rare stat line striking out five batters in the inning. Keaton Reed had the only hit of the inning a one out single. Twice Columbia city reached on dropped third strikes and Columbia City scored twice in the inning, both times on passed balls, to tie the game at 2-2.

In the bottom of the second Columbia City took the lead. With two outs and two runners on Keaton Reed picked up his second hit of the game. He doubled into the gap bringing in a run, but the second runner was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

Carroll answered right back though. Leadoff hitter Austin Starke tied the game up with a solo shot to left. Ross Koble singled and stole second. Tranquill then singled scoring Koble from second. Tranqull also stole second and moved to third on a passed ball. Meihls picked up his third RBI of the day with a sac fly scoring Tranquill pushing Carroll’s lead to 5-3.  

Carroll added another run in the sixth. Pinch hitter Jacob Hansen singled to start the inning and was pinch ran for by Cory McCrary. McCrary moved to second on a sac bunt and Luke Brunner singled him in for Carroll’s sixth run of the game.

Columbia City had their chances to comeback during the game, but could not find a clutch hit against Inman. In the fourth they had three singles in the inning, but nothing to show for it.

In the seventh, Columbia City had another chance to make a comeback. Andrew Biggs led off the inning with a single. Inman struck out the next batter and walked the batter after that to put runners on first and second with one out. Mason Neuman came on for Carroll to face the middle of Columbia City’s lineup. He only needed two pitches to end the game though. After he threw a strike with the first pitch, his second pitch induced a 6-3 double play to end the game giving Carroll the Sectional 5 Title.

Inman got the win throwing 6.1 innings allowing one earned run on eight hits and striking out 12. The sophomore was impressive with his fastball, that was up to 87, sitting more consistently 83-86. With the win Carroll advances to the Lafayette Regional to take on the winner of the Huntington North Sectional.