By Drake Skleba

 

NORMAL ? In a hard-fought Big 12 battle, No. 17 Normal West prevailed 5-4 in eight exciting innings over a valiant Bloomington Purple Raider squad on Thursday.

 

Normal West senior Kyle Vaughn singled home Wildcat sophomore SS Matt James with the game-winner, giving Normal West (27-6; 11-2) the 2011 Big 12 championship. Normal Community (20-11; 10-2) hosted Decatur MacArthur (3-23; 1-11) on Thursday. If the Ironmen prevailed, they would share the Big 12 championship with West.

 

?It feels great to win this game,? said James. ?We really put it all out on the line today. It?s good to win the conference even though we have to share it. I was very aggressive at the plate and it paid off for me.?

 

The Big 12 crown was the fourth consecutive for West head coach Chris Hawkins and the Wildcats.  Normal West and Normal Community split its two-game set on May 3 and May 5. On May 3, West hammered NCHS 10-0 in five innings. NCHS came back to beat West 4-3 behind junior Tyler Bixby on the 5^th. Circle May 28 on your calendar, as the two Big 12 co-champions could meet for the Class 4A Normal West Regional championship at 11 a.m. at West.

 

Now let?s get back to this thriller?

 

Bloomington (20-13; 10-3) jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead after four innings. The Purple Raiders erased a 1-0 Wildcat lead in the top of the second, when Raider senior SS Ty Dicken went deep off Wildcat starting pitcher Vaughn. The Purple Raiders added a run in the third and two more in the fourth.

 

Raider sophomore  starting RHP Kent Frantz (6-3) came up with a clutch two-out RBI single to give Bloomington a 2-1 lead after three. In the fourth the Purple Raider two-out magic continued. Junior catcher Kyle Johnson singled to center and when the Wildcat CF kicked the ball, the third Raider run crossed the plate. Fellow junior Ky Newbill followed with an RBI double and Bloomington led 4-1 after four.

 

Wildcat junior RHP Dustin Detweiler relieved Vaughn in the fourth and would throw 2 1/3 shutout innings of relief to keep the ?Cats in the game.

 

?We have a great catcher in our sophomore Adam McGinnis,? said Detweiler. ?I was throwing strikes and my fastball was really working well for me. I have a lot of confidence in my catcher and defense.?

 

The Wildcats erupted for a three spot in the fifth to tie the game at 4-4. No. 8 hitter James (2-for-4, 2R) and No. 9 hitter junior DH Ryan Speller (1-for-2, R, BB, HBP) opened up the inning with singles against Frantz. Wildcat leadoff man sophomore RF Alex Jefferson (1-for-3, 2R, HBP) was plunked to load the bases.

 

Vaughn singled home his first run of the game and sophomore catcher Adam McGinnis (1-for-4; RBI) drove in a run on a groundout to make it 4-3. Bloomington head coach Steve Clapp chose to intentionally walk Wildcat senior 3B Wes Sery (2-for-3, BB, RBI) to load the bases. Frantz got a big strikeout for the second out and then the at bat of the game took place.

 

Normal West ?s senior CF/P Adam Seifert and Frantz battled through an 11-pitch at bat before Siefert got his walk, forcing in Jefferson with the tying run.

 

?I credit that at bat to Coach Hawkins,? said Seifert. ?He?s a great coach and a leader.?

 

?We had three straight titles and we really wanted to add 2011 to the championship board,? added Seifert.

 

Franz got another huge strikeout on a 3-2 pitch to get out of any further damage in the fifth. In the bottom of the seventh, the gritty tough-luck loser Frantz again picked up a huge strikeout, with the bases loaded on a 3-2 pitch, to send the game to extra innings.

 

Seifert (6-0) relieved Detweiler in the seventh and fired two scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth.

 

In the bottom of the eighth, James singled and Speller was hit by a pitch. Jefferson?s sac-bunt attempt was popped up for the first out of the inning. Vaughn was next, and made everyone on the West Side of Normal happy campers.

 

?On the game-winner, I went up to the plate looking fastball and I was able to drive it up the middle and give us this win and championship,? said Vaughn ?That really has to be a hitter?s approach at the plate in that situation.?

 

?We really wanted to win the title for our fourth consecutive year. Bloomington?s pitcher Frantz was really tough, and we knew they would come after us,? said Hawkins.

 

?Dustin Detweiler can really throw for us. He kept us in the game. James and Speller really hit well for us today. I wanted Kyle (Vaughn) to bunt in the eighth. He looked like he wanted to hit so I pulled the bunt off and he made me look like a genius.?