By RYAN WALKER
Last year, Huntington North won the Northeast 8 Conference championship and beat the Norwell Knights 5-4 to do it. But on Friday night, there was no chance the Knights were going to let that happen again.
Norwell (14-6, 6-0 NE8) demolished Huntington North (4-11, 1-4 NE8) 13-1 in a five-inning mercy rule to clinch a share of the NE8 Conference championship.
The win sets the stage for next Tuesday at Columbia City. The Eagles slipped up their chance the previous night at Parkview Field, where they fell to Leo and dropped to 4-2. East Noble is the only team remaining that would split with Norwell and has two games left with New Haven and Bellmont.
The Vikings were not in a position to defend the title, entering the game with just a 1-3 conference record. But considering the aching loss last season, it made it that much sweeter for the three seniors who witnessed it.
“Yeah. Especially the way we won,” head coach Christian Bohata said, a Norwell baseball alumnus. “It’s a statement win. I personally wasn’t there (last year against Huntington North), obviously being the JV coach last year, but I know the guys really, really wanted this one. That was said a lot. Yesterday, I said leading up to the game I said ‘Hey, they spoiled it for us last year — we’ve got to get these guys.’ We came out focused. We came out, punched them in the mouth and we kept the throttle down.”
“Yeah, we’re really, really excited,” Senior Cade Shelton said. “We know the job’s not finished — we’ve still got to play Columbia City Tuesday. We’re focused on that now.”
“We were pretty salty after the Huntington North game,” Shelton referenced about the loss last season.
The heavily favored Knights didn’t need to do much to jump on the scoreboard in the first inning. Vikings’ starting pitcher Isaac Wilson walked three batters in a row with the bases loaded. But the Knights got the sticks red hot and put up an 11-spot in just three innings.
Lane Lewis, Drew Jolley, Logan Cotton all had RBI base-hits in those innings. And the highlight of it all — a three-run cannonball with a bat flip by Shelton surged the Knights to a 9-1 lead and never looked back.
“I was thinking fastball,” Shelton said. “When I got a good low inside fastball where I like it, (I) just kind of threw my hands out it and celebrated with my team.”
“He put a good swing on one, and his swing is something that we’ve really, really been working with him on,” Bohata said. “Tonight, it showed the work he’s put in, and even behind the scenes the work he’s put in, it showed tonight.”
It’s not a surprise that Shelton, a Huntington University signee, led the charge in the 13-1 thrashing. He’s hit a cool .375 with 15 compared to a .296 and 12 RBI season shortened by 10 games due to a lower-body injury.
But where he’s had a strong impact this season is on the mound — something he hasn’t done since his freshman and sophomore seasons.
Not only has he thrown the second-most innings and has been the No. 2 starter behind Lane Lewis, but he’s been dominant. This year, in his 25.2 innings pitched, he’s posted a 1.09 ERA and threw a near-complete game shutout against the Vikings Friday night.
Bohata shared that the coaching staff worked with him to be next next guy in the rotation after Lewis pitched and be the second part of the 1-2 punch. It’s a refound skill that Shelton has brought to the table after the Knights graduated several of their starting pitchers last season.
His final line on Friday was five innings, one hit, one run and six strikeouts.
Norwell will face Columbia City on the road at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 14.
ryan@news-banner.com
