Luke Hunter Walk Off Single Gives Norwell the Win

By Ben Grossberg

Decatur – Sectional 23 had Heritage taking on No. 4 Norwell in the first semifinal of the day. Heritage sent Freshmen Andrew Saalfrank on the mound to take on Senior Josh VanMeter. Both pitchers were impressive during that game with the lefty Saalfrank sitting 80-83 and VanMeter consistently 88-90.

Both pitchers cruised threw the first, with each picking up two strikeouts, but Heritage got on the board in the second. Senior William Knapke got the inning started with a single, a sac bunt moved him to second base, and a passed ball got him to third. Senior Conner Sheehan did his job and hit a ground ball that brought in Knapke.

Norwell’s offense got the run back in the fourth. Senior Tailur Szaresnki led off the inning with a single. Jonah Patten came up next and the Junior hit a ball into the left center field gap for a RBI triple. However, Norwell couldn’t bring in Patten from third with no outs and the score remained tied 1-1 after four innings.

Heritage responded right back though in the top of the fifth. Senior Landon Harris hit a ball deep to right that the right fielder could not catch allowing Harris to get to third with no outs. Junior Collin Evans then singled to bring in Harris giving Heritage a 2-1 lead.

Heritage looked poised for the upset, but in the sixth inning Norwell was able to grab the lead. Szarenski drew a walk to start the inning, but Saalfrank got a fly out and a strikeout. With two down the inning did not to seem to have much promise for Norwell. However, Luke Hunter and Austin Dantzer both worked two strike counts into walks that loaded the bases with two outs. Jacob Meyer entered the game as a pinch hitter a singled through the right side of the infield to bring in the tying run. With the game tied Saalfrank hit the next two batters, Spencer Newell and VanMeter, to give Norwell the lead. That would be the end of his day as Sheehan replaced him on the mound. Sheehan got the next batter out to end the inning with Norwell winning 4-2.

VanMeter came on in the bottom of the seventh to get the complete game win. After getting the first two batters out VanMeter struck out the third, but Norwell’s catcher let the ball get by him allowing Matthew Gibson to reach first. Junior Cole Gerardot came up next and doubled into the right center field gap cutting the deficit to 4-3. The next batter hit a ground ball to short, but it took a bad hop right over Patten’s head into the outfield allowing Gerardot to score and tie the game. Another groundball to short ended the inning, but the game was now tied.

Again Szarenski got the offense started for Norwell with a singe into center. Patten then hit into a fielder’s choice and after a fly out the inning looked to be about over. A passed ball proved to be costly as Patten moved to second with Luke Hunter at the plate. With two strikes Hunter hit a ball through the hole on the left side of the infield and Patten beat the relay throw home to give Norwell the walk off 5-4 victory. Norwell advances to the championship game on Monday.