On Saturday at Victory Field in Downtown Indianapolis, six teams met to decide the fate of three state championships. Two champions have been crowned thus far.

Daleville claims Class A championship

Elliott Jackson stood in a line with his teammates, a state champion medal attached to the blue lanyard draped around his neck.

He pointed to his right ring finger, looking around at his teammates. It won’t be long before he has new jewelry.

“Where’s my ring? Where’s my state ring?” he asked his fellow Daleville Broncos, laughing.

He has every right to smile. Daleville defeated Lanesville 4-0 in the Class A State Championship game Saturday afternoon at Victory Field, the first state championship in its high school history and the second baseball title in Delaware County history.

“To go out with a win and bring home a state championship, it’s great knowing no one at Daleville will ever be the first to do this again,” Jackson said. “There’s no feeling like this.”

At first, Lanesville pitcher Brenden Bube seemed to have the Broncos’ number. He got through the first two innings in just 15 pitches before batters showed more patience and extended counts.

TJ Price opened the scoring by hammering a leadoff home run to left field in the top of the fourth inning, giving Daleville a 1-0 lead.

“As soon as I hit it, I knew it was gone,” Price said. “I was rounding the bases thinking, ‘Did this just happen, did I just hit a home run at state?'”

It was the fifth of the year for Price, tying Jackson for most on the team. With Jackson, Brandon Vermillion and Spencer Horsley graduating, Price will inherit a leadership role. Winning state is the best experience he could ask for to help lead younger players.

Vermillion, who started the game for Daleville, found himself in trouble in the bottom of the fourth inning. Consecutive singles from Mitchell Bailey and Cameron Harvey put pressure on Vermillion, but he responded by inducing an inning-ending double play.

He threw a complete-game shutout, striking out 11 while pounding the strike zone for 68 strikes on 86 pitches.

Until the fifth inning, Jackson hadn’t made a peep. Spencer Horsley singled and Caleb Maddox made it to first base on an error, before Price stepped up to bat again.

Risk pitching with two men on base to the same player who rocked a home run earlier in the game? Lanesville passed, giving Price the intentional walk to load the bases with two outs, bringing Jackson to the plate.

“I love batting in front of Elliott because I know he’s going to drive me in,” Price said. “When I saw they were going to walk me, I thought, “Oh man, this is a big mistake.'”

It was. Facing a 3-2 count, Elliott ripped a frozen rope down the right field line, scoring three and sliding into third base safely. The triple extended the lead to 4-0 and blew the game open

Running with a hamstring injury he’s battled through all year, he never looked faster.

“I couldn’t even feel it,” Jackson said. “My adrenaline was pumping so hard knowing I had a chance for a triple that it didn’t hurt at all.”

He injured the hamstring against Yorktown early in the season. He missed seven games and Daleville suffered a four-game losing streak. Coach Terry Turner said he knew the missing piece was Jackson.

To say Jackson was injury prone the past few years is an understatement. He broke his wrist as a sophomore, missed much of basketball season as a junior after he tore tendons off his thumb when a water glass broke in his hand. Earlier this year, he underwent knee surgery.

Even with all of the maladies, he led Daleville in batting average (.442) and RBIs (38).

“I knew that the reason for our losing streak was the key cog of our offense being out,” Turner said. “Once he came back, everything sort of clicked into place and we rolled.”

The offense was spread for the Broncos. All seven hits came from seven different players, including Corbin Maddox, Chris Kinnick, Peyton Smith and Gavin Whitmore.

Already getting a fly out and ground out to start the bottom of the seventh inning, Vermillion struck out Noah Jones swinging to end the game, clinching the title for Daleville.

No more questions, no more waiting, no more what ifs. Vermillion spent much of the post game on the field, lugging around the Indiana-shaped state champions trophy, fake frowning when someone suggested he put it down for a second. Jackson never stopped smiling. And after 26 years of coaching, Turner had reached the ultimate goal every team plays for.

“There’s been a lot of stress over the past month,” Turner said. “I haven’t really slept well for a long time.”

“I think I’m going to sleep well tonight.”

Walk-off suicide squeeze propels Providence to 2A title

When all you know is winning, it is more difficult to accept a loss.

Jay Lorenz’s squeeze bunt scored pinch runner Jake Katchur in the bottom of the seventh to give Providence a 7-6 win over top-ranked Central Catholic Saturday evening at Victory Field.

It was Central Catholic’s third loss in its last 53 games.

This is the second straight season the Knights lost in the Class 2A state championship game in pursuit of a record-tying eighth state title.

“It really was quite a shock,” senior catcher Coy Cronk said. “First off, it was our second loss of the year. Just losing is not something we are accustomed to.”

Both losses this year came in the last at-bat, the other a 5-4 setback to Andrean on May 6.

Erratic pitching and a five-run inning by Providence put Central Catholic in a 6-3 hole.

As they often do, the Knights overcame adversity to tie the game in the sixth when Jackson Anthrop and Tyler Powers each singled, followed by Luke Schrader drawing a walk. Reliever Reece Davis then came in and walked Anthony Berumen.

Adam Lovell’s beat out a potential double play to score Powers and a throwing error brought Schrader in for the tying run.

The Knights struggled to drive in the go-ahead run with runners on scoring position in the sixth and seventh. Ben Tharp ended the three-run sixth with a line drive to second, another theme of the day for CC.

Bradyn Bordenet finished his final game 0-for-4 but hit three rockets, including one in the second that Providence center fielder Juston Betz snagged diving towards the outfield wall.

“It was an up and down roller coaster game,” Cronk said. “They executed when they needed to and we didn’t.”

Unable to push the go-ahead run across, with Davis striking out consecutive batters to get out of a jam in the top of the seventh, Providence obliged when given its opportunity.

Noah Richardson walked the bases loaded with one out and fell behind Lorenz 2-1.

“It was a fastball count and they needed a strike,” Lorenz said. “Coach gave the call and I did what I had to do.”

Providence (27-3) took the early lead when Parker Graf’s leadoff double in the second was followed up by him stealing third. Lorenz drove him in with a base hit.

The Knights responded in the top of the third.

Luke Schrader’s leadoff double led to him scoring on an error. Anthony Berumen singled and scored on Cronk’s single that also brought home Lovell on a throwing error, giving CC a 3-1 lead.

A series of unfortunate events led to CC starter Jackson Anthrop being relieved by Richardson.

After issuing a one-out walk in the fourth, Lorenz’s sacrifice attempt resulted in a hit and Betz followed with an infield single on a swing that led to a dribbler down the third base line. Bret Aria walked to make the score 3-2 before Jake Lewis, a junior who is verbally committed Eastern Kentucky, tripled to the fence.

Louisville recruit and Providence leading hitter Timmy Borden scored Lewis with a squeeze bunt.

Until that point, Anthrop had avoided disaster.

He forced the Pioneers to strand four runners in the first three innings with help from Sergio Rios, who tracked down a fly ball in the first, then threw out Aria trying to tag up from third.

“We were kind of fighting almost every inning trying to hold them off and unfortunately in the seventh we weren’t able to do it,” CC coach Tim Bordenet said. “They are a good ball club over there as well and they scored one more run than we did.”

So the Knights finished with a record of 33-2, a spectacular season that ended on a sour note and seemingly diminished some of what was accomplished by a team considered to be the favorite since last year’s loss to South Spencer on the same weekend.

“It was a good year, but we came up short,” said Powers, who went 2-for-4. “We fought until the last out. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way. This definitely stings.”

3A to come …