SPARTA – Highland coach Donnie Kline says there are no superstars on his baseball team.
Hard to argue with him when so many contributed to the Fighting Scots’ 4-3 win over Bishop Hartley in a Division II district semifinal on Tuesday, May 25.
Highland returns to the district championship game for the first time since 2006 when the Scots, then in Division III, went all the way to the state final four.
“The one thing about this team is that we’re a team without stars,” Kline said. “(On any given day), it’s the seven-hole hitter, it’s the leadoff hitter, it’s the relief pitcher that comes in and does his job.
“I think when you have a team where you don’t know who’s gonna be the star at end of the night, it’s a lot of fun. This is one of the (most fun) teams I’ve ever coached — travel ball, summer ball or high school baseball. They wanna win and they just find ways to compete every day, and that makes this team a lot of fun.”
Second-seeded Highland had to battle back from a 3-0 deficit, taking the lead on a Zach Pinkerton sacrifice fly in the fifth inning to score pinch runner Layton Shaffer.
The Scots scored twice in that inning after scoring two runs in the fourth.
Luke Cain jump-started the initial rally with a leadoff single. KJ Johnson drove him home with a single, and Brock Church followed with an RBI single of his own to drive home Pinkerton, who also singled in the inning.
“We’re a very humble team,” Johnson said. “It’s hard to soak it all in. We’re just playing baseball and having fun. It’s a child’s game. That’s what baseball is as our coach always tells us. We’re playing a child’s game. That helps us calm down and relax ourselves in these big games like this.”
Randy Cain opened the fifth inning with a base hit, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored the tying run on an error.
Randy Cain and Johnson finished with two hits apiece to lead the Scots (28-2), who already hold the school record for most wins in a season.
It also took two of the team’s top pitchers — Wyatt Groves and Blake Jodrey — to secure the victory. Groves was touched up for three runs in the second inning. But he settled in to retire eight of the next nine batters before a base hit with two out in the fifth ended his day. He allowed three earned runs on five hits and a walk with three strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings overall.
Jodrey took over from there, allowing two hits and a walk in 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief to notch the win.
“We’re a big family and I can always count on the guys,” Jodrey said. “I felt like we had it and we just pushed through it. Of course we’re nervous a little bit, but we always seem to come together. It’s just the family that we have … we’re just so close.”
“Jodrey is kind of like the sports car,” Kline said. “He’s a little fancier and he’s got more pitches. The two lefties (Groves and Logan Shaffer) are like the Ford trucks. They just go out there and pound the zone. They get into trouble sometimes, but it’s a good mix together — a little white-collar, blue-collar mix.”
Emmett Gillies and Peyton Underwood had two hits apiece to lead the fifth-seeded Hawks. Gillies gave up hits to the first two batters before retiring the next batters until Highland finally got to him in the fourth.
Gillies allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk and struck out four for Hartley (16-5).
Highland hosts sixth-seeded Lakewood in Thursday’s district title game.
Fredericktown 10, Mount Gilead 4
Caleb Sheriff drove in four runs — three on a home run — to lead host Fredericktown to a 10-4 win over KMAC rival Mount Gilead in a Division III district semifinal game on Tuesday, May 25.
Trevor Jobes hit an RBI single to give the second-seeded Freddies a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Kaid Carpenter followed with a two-run double.
Sheriff drove in his first run in the third inning when he doubled to score Ty Hatfield, who walked to lead off the frame.
Jobes drove in Sheriff with a single for what turned out to be the game-winner.
Sheriff’s three-run bomb in the sixth capped Fredericktown’s scoring.
Lincoln Cunningham allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits with six strikeouts over five innings for the Freddies.
Carson VanHoose had two hits, a walk and a run to pace eighth-seeded Mount Gilead.
The Freddies host sixth-seeded Amanda-Clearcreek on Thursday. The Aces upset top-seeded Worthington Christian 1-0 on Tuesday.
Fisher Catholic 10, Danville 0 (5)
Nick Crooner had three hits and three runs at the plate and got the win on the mound to lead top-seeded Fisher Catholic to a 10-0 win in five innings over Danville in a Division IV district semifinal on Tuesday, May 25, in Lancaster.
Jack Tencza had two hits and three RBIs; and Nick Dolci added two hits, a walk and three runs to lead the Irish, who will host second-seeded Newark Catholic in a district title game on Thursday.
Bryce Colopy, Gavyn Lepley and Kaiden Colopy each had hits to lead the 10th-seeded Blue Devils.
