LINDEN — With a 4-2 win over Cascade on Tuesday, North Montgomery baseball tied the Cadets for first place in the Monon Athletic Conference.
With a win Wednesday, the Chargers will claim at least a share of the first Monon baseball title, and win the first conference championship since a Sagamore Conference title in 2000.
North got all four runs in their first trip to the plate, as the first six batters reached base.
Talyn Sheldon made those runs stand, as the junior pitcher went the distance, needing only 75 pitches to pick up the win. He allowed six hits, walked two and struck out four. The North defense turned in an error-free game, including a huge double play in the seventh when Cascade got the lead runner on base.
“Talyn threw well, threw strikes, and made them hit the ball,” North Coach Matt Voorhees said. “He isn’t overpowering, but he threw a lot of first-pitch strikes (12 batters), and his defense was great behind him. He walked the first guy in the seventh and I went out to the mound and told him to just throw strikes and the defense would get a ground ball double play. It turned into a line drive and thrown out runner, but just as good.”
The Chargers runs came in the first when Aiden Ambriz-Cruz hit the first pitch he saw to deep right field. The fly ball was dropped, Ambriz-Cruz was on third, and that spark ignited the offense.
Up next, Crew Cole got hit by the second pitch he saw, and Lucky Young then reached on an infield single, scoring Ambriz-Cruz.
Tucker Hinds stroked a double over the center fielder’s head, scoring Cole. Lincoln Heide followed that with a single, chasing Young and Hinds across home plate.
Five hitters, five on base, four runs, as the Chargers dented the armor of Cadets top starting pitcher TJ Turner.
The Cadets didn’t get a runner to third base until the sixth inning, when three hits scored two runs. Sheldon got a ground ball to end that threat and the double-killing in the seventh kept the Chargers on top and heading into today’s winner-take-all rematch at Cascade.
“You work all offseason for just what we have coming up,” Voorhees noted, “a chance to play for a championship. These guys came in lots of days in the offseason. Some of them had football, basketball or wrestling practice and then did some baseball work. Other guys worked baseball all offseason. We have a chance to make school history by winning the first-ever Monon championship, and I think our last conference title was like 2000.”
The coach is exactly right, as the 2000 Sagamore crown was the last. The Chargers won a WRC title in 1973, and were on top of the Sagamore in 1985, ’87, ’89, ’96 and ’97.
“I’m just so proud of all these guys have done,” Voorhees continued. “What they do embodies them as a team, and how they do it makes us proud to represent our school and our families, but most importantly, their teammates. It’s a great opportunity, and we will certainly give it our best effort at Cascade.”
The winner of today’s game will claim at least a share of the Monon title. Greencastle, with two wins over North Putnam, would tie the winner of the North/Cascade game for first.
But there is no tiebreaker. A win today means conference champs.
First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
