By RYAN WALKER
The Northeast 8 baseball Conference came down to the wire and had a wild finish to say the least Tuesday night.
Norwell was in complete control entering the night, posting a 6-0 record in the conference and a win would lock them up as champions. But Columbia City (14-9, 5-2 NE8) foiled the plans, defeating the Knights (14-7, 6-1 NE8) and putting the trophy on hold.
“Like I told the guys, I don’t think its anything to discredit whether we share the title or win it outright, we’ve played really well conference-wise,” head coach Christian Bohata said after the game.
By that point, Norwell clinched at least a share of the title with East Noble’s (5-1) game with Bellmont still in progress.
As the Norwell game finished, East Noble and Bellmont were deadlocked at a 1-1 score in the sixth inning. Then, a massive sixth by the Braves, who were not even playing for anything, put the score at 7-1.
It looked as if the Knights were going to be bailed out by Bellmont, East Noble came roaring back in the bottom of the seventh to score five runs to make it 7-6 Braves with two outs.
But the Braves came through, recording the final out and that made Norwell the outright champions.
This was the first time since 2007 that the Knights won an outright conference championship. That was when Norwell went a perfect 35-0 and won the state championship.
“Honestly, to me, to go 6-1 in how competitive this conference, that’s a great feat in itself,” Bohata said. “I told the guys ‘Hey, going into today, we weren’t content with sharing the title. But at the same time, we’ve got to be pretty dang proud of that.’”
In the 3-1 Columbia City game, it was the Eagles’ pitching and defense that kept the Knights cold.
Starting pitcher Grayson Bradberry went seven innings and only allowed one passed ball to score among just three hits. He kept the bats quiet and the scoring threats short despite Norwell connecting for good contact on some pitches.
There were a few line drives out toward James Getts in centerfield that were no problem for him to swallow up. Another line drive and a diving effort by Coleman Clark kept runners off the bases again.
According to Bradberry’s Prep Baseball Report recruiting profile, he tops out at 90 miles per hour. He now is 3-1 with a 1.54 ERA. Plus, a nearly flawless fielding performance by his team was the perfect combination for a win.
“We were getting hard contact, but (Bradberry) was getting a lot of ground balls and those are easy outs for him. He was ahead and filling up the strike zone,” Bohata said. “I told the guys all night to hunt fastball, and I thought they did a really good job and stayed off his off-speed, but he’s good at locating his fastball. Credit to him, he threw a heck of a game.”
In the seventh inning, Norwell’s Collin Burns hit a one-out single and Korben Neuenschwander reached via an error in the infield to apply pressure on the Eagles. But a fielder’s choice play and a flyout to center ended the game.
The loss may have put a damper on winning the outright title, but as Bohata shared, the team earned its spot on top with wins over the rest of the field. It’s an accomplishment that no Norwell team has had since ‘07.
Norwell’s next contest will be at Northrop at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 15.
ryan@news-banner.com
