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Norwood Pirates win district championship

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The Norwood Pirates baseball team knew they had a target on their back as the No. 1 seed and host of last week’s Class 1, District 4 Tournament.

The squad, that is made up of several basketball players from a team that finished third in the state, seemed to embrace the target as they outscored opponents, 31-1, to win the district championship.

In a game moved to Parkview High School in Springfield due to rain hammering the area midweek, the Pirates crushed Dora, 16-1, to win the championship.

“It’s the same group of kids (as state basketball),” said Norwood head coach Drew Miller. “They’ve been working hard to get to where we are.”

After press time, Norwood traveled to Annapolis, Mo. to take on South Iron in the school’s first Sectional game since the Pirates placed fourth in Class 2 back in the 2014-2015 season.

A win would give them a quarterfinals match-up with the winner of Cooter and Oran on May 26. Results will be available in June 2 issue.

In the district championship game, pitcher Garrett Davault worked quickly and efficiently, mowing down Dora’s line-up.

He only threw 40 pitches as he went four innings and allowed no earned runs on three hits and finished with eight strikeouts.

“I talked to him that the goal was to not have over 70 pitches,” Miller said. “He ended the game with 40. It was only feasible if the offense goes.”

Well, Miller’s offense was definitely on in the finals against the Falcons.

Norwood scored five runs in their first at-bat and added seven in the second inning to go up 12-1.

They added two more runs in the next two innings to enforce the mercy rule behind a 15-hit attack.

All nine players in the Pirates line-up scored in the win and all but one player had an RBI.

Zack Black led the team with three hits, three RBIs and two runs scored; Dylan Calhoun had three hits, two RBIs and three runs scored; Brayden Wehrer, Toby Cottengim and Jalen Drake each had two RBIs and scored once; Jacob Sinning, Gavin McGraw and Josh Bradshaw had one RBI and scored twice; and Davault scored twice.

In the district semifinals, the Pirates scored 10 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to pull away for a 15-0 win over Summersville.

Cottengim led the Pirates on the mound as he tossed four innings of shutout ball and allowed one hit and had three strikeouts.

Offensively, Bradshaw led the team with three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored; Calhoun and Cottengim each had two RBIs and one run scored; both Black and Sinning scored three times and added one RBI; both Davault and McGraw scored twice and had one RBI; Wehrer had two RBIs and Drake had one RBI and one run scored.

Norwood’s offense had 13 hits in the win.