Saturday, May 1, 2010

Sectional Champs!!! Central Catholic thumps No 1 F

JCOnline:
Central Catholic senior Scott Windler, who struggled to find hits over the past two weeks, put on a hitting display Tuesday night.

Taylor Glaze, two years removed from a loss to the same opponent in the same situation, displayed veteran poise on the mound.

Those seniors were the catalysts of No. 4 Central Catholic's 8-1 victory over No. 1 Frontier in the Class A Central Catholic Sectional championship game at Leming Field.

"It's a great feeling," said Windler, who homered in each of the first two innings to help CC grab a 4-0 lead. "We knew we had to come out ready to play. We were waiting for this all year long, and we finally got a chance."

The defending state champion Knights won their seventh sectional title in nine years. They were the only team to beat Frontier (29-2), including a 22-3 victory in Chalmers on April 19.

"This is obviously a big rivalry," said Glaze, who threw a three-hitter to improve to 7-2. "To be the only team to beat them, twice in the same year, that's fun. I like that title."

Sterrett (10-1) threw a two-hit shutout to beat CC in the sectional championship at Leming Field in 2008. But five unearned runs hampered his effort on Tuesday, and CC touched him for 10 hits.

The Chicago State recruit lost for the first time since his freshman season and finished his career 41-2.

"We got the bat on the ball. We just couldn't get hits," Sterrett said. "We kept popping up and grounding out, and they're a team that makes plays if you hit it on the ground. We didn't do that enough, so it turned out for the worst for us."

Windler drove Sterrett's 1-0 fastball over the left-field wall on the game's second pitch. Facing a 3-2 count with one on in the second, he drove a breaking ball over the wall in center.

Reed Drysdale doubled home Cole Hruskovich later in the inning to stake Glaze to a 4-0 lead.

"The home run in the first inning allowed Taylor to relax," said Tim Bordenet, who earned his 300th victory as Central Catholic's coach. "The three runs in the second inning allowed him to go right at them, be aggressive. He was able to mix all his pitches and keep them off-balance and out on their front foot just enough."

Frontier trailed 5-0 in the fourth when first baseman Frank Fisk crushed a long home run to center field. Fisk homered in all three sectional games and finished the season with 16.

Two singles by senior Jon-Marc Ream were the only other hits Glaze allowed. The left-hander coaxed six infield pop-ups and struck out seven, including fanning the side looking in the seventh.

"That's the first time we've seen a lefty with a decent amount of speed," Sterrett said. "We just couldn't get the bat on the ball and hit line drives."

Windler entered the sectional with four hits in his last 27 at-bats. The center fielder and leadoff hitter broke through for a 6-for-7 performance with six runs scored and five RBIs in two tournament games.

"That lit everyone in the dugout up, and the fans, and that got the momentum on our side and kept us going," Glaze said of Windler's home runs.

"He was doing great in (batting practice) this morning, and then he just took it to the field and he never looked back."

A huge showdown tonight!

It's Central Catholic vs Frontier! No 1 against no 2 for the sectional championship tonight!
JCOnline:
It took almost nine hours from first pitch to last to complete Monday's Class A Central Catholic baseball sectional semifinals at Leming Field.

ut there wasn't really any prolonging of the drama. The only unexpected aspect of the eventual Frontier-Central Catholic championship game matchup was its postponement until tonight at 7.

The top-ranked Falcons waited out a rain and lightning delay of nearly four hours before finishing off an 11-3 semifinal victory over Tri-Central. Central Catholic opened the day with a 10-0 victory over Rossville.

"It's a cool atmosphere," said Frontier senior Dylan Sterrett, who drove in three runs and scored three more on Monday, of playing CC for the championship. "Everybody will be here. There will be lines (of people) down there like there were two years ago. Should be fun."

Both Frontier (29-1) and Central Catholic (22-7) started their No. 2 pitchers in the semifinals. Sterrett (10-0, 0.95 ERA) and CC senior Taylor Glaze (6-2, 0.99 ERA) are expected to take the mound tonight.

Sterrett and Glaze have not faced each other since the 2008 sectional championship, which the Falcons won 3-0. Neither took the mound during the teams' regular season meeting, when CC routed Frontier 22-3 in Chalmers.

"We've got to know that they're going to come out ready to play, but we've got to come out and be more intense and focused," said CC senior Scott Windler, who went 3-for-4 with a home run and two doubles against Rossville.

Frontier led Tri-Central 3-2 in the top of the fourth before the first rain delay, which lasted 24 minutes. First baseman Frank Fisk extended his area home run lead to 14 with a two-run shot during a four-run bottom of the fourth, and the Falcons scored three more in the fifth.

Tri-Central's Josh Copp homered leading off the top of the sixth to make it 10-3, but Frontier's Travis Demerly (8-1) set the next three Trojans down in order. With winds picking up at Leming Field, officials covered the infield with tarpaulins before intermittent rains fell for the next three-plus hours.

The Falcons played games in the auxiliary gymnasium at CC while waiting to find out if play would resume

"Whenever you start a game, you should finish it," said Fisk, who went 2-for-3 and drove in three runs. "We were lucky enough today to have the weather hold off."

Demerly scattered four hits, walked three and struck out nine over six innings. Grant Ream doubled and scored in the third and added a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

Central Catholic continued a recent trend of lopsided sectional victories over Rossville. Windler, Chas Bobillo and Austin Munn all doubled during a four-run top of the first, and the Knights collected 14 hits.

"Being (the visitor), we get that first chance to get up there to hit and get run support," said Munn, who doubled twice. "We know that our pitcher's going to shut them down."

Brett Haan started and threw three perfect innings for the Knights. Ben Cramer (2-0) relieved and finished off the three-hit shutout.

For the past four seasons, the Hornets have drawn Central Catholic in the sectional semifinals, and the Knights have outscored them 53-0. Matt Ummel doubled and singled for Rossville (9-17), which has not scored in sectional play since 2004 and has been outscored 78-0 in that span.

"You've got to put pressure on a team like this; you've got to put runs on them," Hornets coach Michael Gick said. "We competed, but at some point we've got to get past that level and really get after a game, especially against a team like that. They've had our number for quite a while."

Sectional Time for our Knights!!! At Central Catholic!

Goal??? Another State Championship!!!

Travis Demerly and Frank Fisk each hit two-run homers to lead Class A No. 1 Frontier past ClintonPrairie 9-2 in the opener of the Class A Central Catholic Sectional on Thursday.

Demerly, Fisk and Grant Ream each finished with two hits as Frontier took advantage of five Clinton Prairie errors. Dylan Sterrett tossed a completed game three hitter, striking out nine.

Go Knights!!!