Page 23 - 2017-18 Baseball State Finals Program

Last Year’s State Finals in Review

Lanesville Earns First State Championship in School History
leville. That experience paid off this time
around as eight starters returned this
year for the school located in Harrison
County in southern Indiana.
Scoreless through the first four
frames, Lanesville exploded in a big fifth
inning for five runs and it all began with
two outs. Isaac Casabella walked and
Greg Daly’s single moved him to third
base. After Daly stole second base, Evan
Peele doubled to left field scoring both.
Ethan Purdy then pinch ran for Peele
and advanced to second on a wild pitch
followed by a walk to Ryan McCubbins.
Mitchell Bailey then doubled to left field
scoring two more runs. Bailey then
scored on Cameron Harvey’s single to
right field.
A year after settling for a runner-up finish, eighth-ranked Third-ranked Rossville (24-9) got on the board in the
Lanesville returned and claimed the big trophy it had been bottom of the fifth after a two-out, bases loaded wild pitch
seeking with a 5-1 victory over Rossville at Victory Field in brought Mark Soiseth home but the Hornets stranded two
Indianapolis. runners in scoring position and ended any chance of a rally.
A member school since 1939 and an enrollment of 258, it Soiseth had walked, advanced to second on Nate Clendenen
was the first state championship earned by a Lanesville team single up the middle, and took third on a fielder’s choice.
in any sport. The eighth-ranked Eagles (20-6) were coached Harvey (9-2) went the distance on the mound for the
by third-year leader Zach Payne and finished the season Eagles striking out four and holding Rossville to three hits.
winning 12 straight games. Rossville was making its second appearance in the state
A year ago, the Eagles made their first appearance in the finals, 17 years after its 2000 state championship season.
Class A championship game but suffered a 4-0 defeat to Da- Brad Scott is in his second year coaching the Hornets.
Ritter Cruises to First Baseball State Championship
Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter plated three runs in both the
third and fourth innings and went on to capture its first base-
ball state championship in a 10-4 decision over Wapahani at
Victory Field in Indianapolis.
Coached by 11th-year leader Dave Scott, Ritter (28-3)
earned the school’s sixth state championship and second this
this school year following their 2A football crown last fall down
the street at Lucas Oil Stadium. Each of their previous titles
had come in football.
Kyle Price’s RBI single in the third inning scored Alex Vela
who had singled with two outs and then stole second. Jake
Kluemper then followed with an RBI triple to right field scoring
Price. Kluemper scored the third run when Joey Gruber, pinch
running for Blake Malatestinic, stole second after Wapahani
made a play on him.
In the Ritter fourth, Brian Eisele pinch ran for Dillon Ole-
jnik who tripled down the right field line and scored on Vela’s
single through the right side. Vela took second on a wild pitch
and then third on a passed ball. Price walked to put runners
on the corners and then stole second himself. Ben Egenolf
singled up the middle scoring both to take a 6-0 advantage.
The Raiders of 34th year Wapahani coach Brian Dudley
got back into it with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Isaiah Brosher reached on a fielding error to lead off and
moved over on Braxton Davis’ single. Both then moved up
another base on a wild pitch. Tysen Lipscomb was then inten-
tionally walked to load the bases and Stephen Vickery singled
to scoring Brosher. Garett Stanley then landed a 2 RBI single
to left field scoring Davis and Lipscomb.
Third-ranked Ritter tacked four more in the top of the sixth
inning on two hits and an error while Wapahani picked up RBI for Ritter and Stanley went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run
one more in its last at bat when Stanley scored on Chandler scored for Wapahani.
Wise’s grounder to second base. Wapahani (19-12) was playing in the championship game
Malatestinic pitched all seven innings to finish his senior for the second time in four seasons but settled for its second
year 12-1. Egenolf finished the game 2-for-3 with a run and 3 runner-up finish (2004 2A).
IHSAA - Pure Spirit. Pure Sport! 23