The Norwell baseball team had yet another successful season in Class 3A last season. A year that included a blowout sectional championship win over 26-3 and ACAC king Heritage.
The Knights put up an 18-11 record a year after their miraculous semi-state run in which captured both the sectional and regional titles.
This season, the team has every reason to believe that a final Northeast 8 Conference and postseason run is possible with its senior-heavy roster, along with another sectional title and beyond.
“We want to win the conference title and sectional again this year,” fifth-year head coach Dave Goodmiller said. “We want to continue to improve as a team and prepare ourselves with challenging competition.”
The Knights started off the season doing just that, making the long road trip this past weekend to Jennings County, winning the game against them and Class 2A’s No. 5 ranked Seegar Patriots.
Norwell won both games by a combined 37-11, so clearly, the bats are already in midseason form.
The Knights earned receiving votes in the preseason IHSBCA poll in Class 3A, and part of the reason is the lineup is filled with those mashers.
Five returning players hit over .300 in the lineup, including Drew and Luke Graft, who hit .432 and .418, led the team in hits, and added some extra-base power.
Then the top sluggers return from last year. Brody Bolyn and Trey Bodenheimer led the team in RBIs and home runs last season. Cale Mallery, Lleyton Bailey, and Cade Shelton all also played a key role in the lineup and put up solid offensive numbers.
Curtis Ellis had himself a day over the weekend, going 4-6 with a pair of triples, sowing the depth of the roster.
A reason why Goodmiller is high on his team is that the team’s pitching depth has been strengthened, and it has more reliable arms.
Outside of graduate Bo Morgan’s 0.2 of an inning last year, the team brought back every single pitcher that logged any sort of pitching stat.
Cade Shelton and Lleyton Bailey highlight the returning cast as the No. 1 and No. 2 starters. Shelton started 10 games and posted a 3.08 earned run average, and struck out an impressive 70 batters. Bailey went 6-2 on the year and logged 56 innings, compiled a 3.88 ERA, and struck out 54 batters. He also went the full game five times throughout the season.
Lane Lewis threw a complete-game, five-inning game over Jennings County, where he allowed one run on just two hits, striking out five.
Other depth in the bullpen is Brody Bolyn, who started six games and threw 39 innings, and Lane Lewis, who threw 30 innings.
Last year, the Knights split the conference crown with DeKalb and Bellmont, but Goodmiller also notes that Leo, Huntington North, and Columbia City are going to bring a tough schedule in conference play.
In the regular season, the Knights will also have a bulked-up schedule to prepare for the conference and postseason grind. On top of No. 5 Seegar, other notable teams on the schedule include receiving vote schools Homestead, Guerin Catholic, and Snider while also facing Carroll and Heritage.
