CHARLESTON, W.Va. — North Marion’s first trip to the state tournament will at the very least include an apperance in the Class AA title game.
The No. 4 Huskies scored the first four runs of Friday’s state semifinal against Independence and rode the right arm of Jace Rinehart to a 7-2 victory over Independence at Power Park.
Rinehart threw 6 2/3 innings, striking out nine and holding the Patriots to a pair of runs on six hits to earn the victory.
“Jace pitched an outstanding game,” Huskies’ coach Vic Seccuro said. “He went the limit with pitches and threw 113. But he pitched outstanding and sort of took a little bit off his fastball at times just to confuse them and keep them off-balance.”
Rinehart pitched with a lead for the entirety of the semifinal after North Marion (20-8) got a two-out RBI single from Brock Troy in the top of the first inning to go in front 1-0.
Despite allowing a leadoff single to Atticus Goodson when Independence (23-5) came to bat in the home half of the inning, Rinehart struck out the side. He then worked around a leadoff walk in the second to keep the Patriots scoreless, before the Huskies seized control of the contest with a three-run third.
The Patriots proved to be their own worst enemy in the third, with Goodson issuing a walk to Rinehart with one out, before a dropped fly ball allowed Nik Tobin to reach second. With two runners in scoring position, Troy sent a ground ball to short that brought home Rinehart, while an error on the play allowed Tobin to score for a 3-0 lead.
“I’ve watched other teams comes down here before that are real good and struggle defensively. We picked a bad day to have that and that’s baseball sometimes,” Patriots’ coach Scott Cuthbert said. “You have good days and bad days and we’ve been back and forth the last five games it seems like.”
Later in the frame, Bryce Rhoades doubled with two outs — the Huskies’ lone hit of the inning — to score Troy an up the lead to four.
While the Patriots’ first two batters of the third reached on an error and walk, Rinehart ultimately struck out consecutive batters with the bases loaded to keep them off the scoreboard.
“Being with my teammates and knowing nobody is nervous and we all know what we have to do, it really calms down the nerves,” Rinehart said. “Knowing that my team is going to back me up no matter what and my friends are going to be with me, I really don’t have anything to be nervous about.”
Independence mustered its only offense of the game in the fourth as Andrew Lester connected for an RBI double and Goodson hit a run-scoring single to cut the Patriots’ deficit in half.
Just as soon as they got back into the contest, the Patriots again hurt their cause with defensive miscues in the fifth.
Rinehart and Tobin both hit singles to start the inning, and after a pitching change, Michael Harris laid down a successful suicide squeeze bunt that brought home Rinehart. With two runners in scoring position and two outs, the Huskies’ scored their final two runs of the game after Parker Kincell sent a ground ball back to the pitcher that was thrown away.
“We get a little lead and I can gamble a little more and do some other things,” Seccuro said. “I don’t have to play small ball. I can do some other things that we like to do — hit and run and maybe steal. But we never really had the opportunities. They sort of made the mistakes and allowed our baserunners to advance.”
Rinehart had no intention of letting the Patriots get back into the game, allowing a single baserunner in the both the fifth and sixth innings. He issued a one-out walk in the seventh before striking out Clay Basham.
“My teammates definitely helped me out and gave me a cushion which made it a lot easier to pitch,” Rinehart said. “Changing speeds and hitting spots was my approach and my teammates really helped me out with that making plays and hitting the ball.”
After Rinehart was removed for his pitch count, Troy struck out Hunter Schoolcraft for the final out. The Huskies will have every pitcher available for Saturday’s finale with the excpetion of Rinehart.
“He moved the ball around a little bit and threw a lot of strikes,” Cuthbert said of Rinehart. “He mixed his pitches well. We got a little antsy a few times. When he needed to get his outs, he really beared down and got his outs. He pitched a heck of a game today.”
Tobin had two of his team’s five hits, while Goodson led the Patriots by producing two of their six hits.
Goodson suffered the loss after allowing six runs — only two of which were earned — in four innings. He struck out eight and walked three.
The Huskies will meet the winner of No. 2 Logan/No. 3 Herbert Hoover in the title game at approximately 1:30 p.m. Saturday.