The Norwood Pirates baseball team drew perhaps the toughest part of the Class 1 State Championship bracket last week as it was forced to face two of the top four teams in the state on the road.
Fortunately, Norwood’s journey began by stunning No. 4 South Iron, 10-8, in the seventh inning, in a game more than two hours away.
Two days later, the team was forced to go three hours away from home to take on the No. 1 ranked team in the state, the Oran Eagles.
That’s where the Pirates’ season came to an end, just one victory shy of the Final Four, as they lost to the Eagles, 11-1.
“When you have a five hour round trip and then have three and a half hours to get here (in Oran), that’s tough playing the No. 1 team in the state,” said Norwood head coach Drew Miller.
While it was not the finish the Pirates wanted, Norwood had a strong end to their spring campaign as they entered the postseason with just a 10-8 overall record.
“The record does not show how well the team played,” Coach Miller said.
Norwood’s quarterfinals loss did mean it was the final game for seniors Zack Black, Jalen Drake and Josh Bradshaw.
Miller noted that both Black and Bradshaw finished out the season as All-Conference and All-District selections. Meanwhile, Drake provided a steady bat in the nine hole and solid defensively play at second base.
In the Quarterfinals against the Eagles, it appeared early that Norwood was ready to take it to Oran.
In their first at-bat, Garrett Davault hit a lead-off single. After stealing second base, Davault scored when Dylan Calhoun hit a single to left field to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.
Little did Norwood realize at the time that they would not have any more hits for the rest of the game.
Norwood took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the second inning when Pirates’ pitchers combined to hit four batters.
Meanwhile, Oran’s offense had five hits and scored seven times to go up 7-1.
Starting pitcher Jacob Sinning was replaced near the end of the inning by Black, who had only pitched in one other game this year.
Black ended up tossing four innings and allowing just four earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
“It was only Zack’s second appearance on the mound all year,” Coach Miller noted. “He stayed in and did what we needed him to do.”
Sinning had a rough outing as he was charged with seven earned runs on three hits with two strikeouts and two walks.
As for Sectionals, Norwood stunned South Iron early as they scored eight runs over the first two innings as it appeared the Panthers may have been overlooking the Pirates since they chose not to start their ace pitcher.
South Iron climbed back in the game with a four spot in the fifth inning.
After Norwood answered with two runs in their next at-bat, the Pirates had a 10-5 lead heading into the Panthers final at-bat in the seventh.
South Iron managed to score three runs before loading the bases with just one out.
That was when a South Iron hitter lined out to Sinning in centerfield. He caught the ball and picked off a runner at second base for a double play to win Sectionals.
In the win, the Pirates did throw their ace pitcher in Davault. He tossed six innings and allowed five earned runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts.
“Garrett had a great game,” Coach Miller said.
Sinning allowed three earned runs in just a third of an inning on one hit with three walks.
Toby Cottengim gave up no runs or hits in two-thirds of an inning.
He did walk two batters.
Offensively, Calhoun had three RBIs; Davault scored three times in the lead-off spot as he drew three walks; Black scored three times; Brayden Wehrer had two RBIs; Gavin McGraw, Sinning and Bradshaw each had one RBI and scored one run; while Drake scored one run.
