TERRE HAUTE — Thirty-five years and counting.
That’s how long it’s been since a Vigo County high school baseball team has won an IHSAA state championship. That streak continued when third-ranked West Vigo came up short 6-3 to No. 1-ranked Andrean in the Class 3A state title game at Victory Field in Indianapolis on Saturday.
The only Vigo County baseball state champion was Terre Haute North, way back in 1974.
A very interested spectator at Victory Field last weekend was the head coach of that North team, Don Jennings. And no, he was not in attendance hoping against hope that he would remain the only state champion baseball coach in Vigo County history.
Truth be told, he was rooting for West Vigo, even going as far as sporting a green hat and green shirt.
“West Vigo has had a good program out there,” Jennings stated. “Dick Ballinger was there and got the program started. Herschel Allen was there. Then Steve DeGroote came in there and is doing a great job. They’ve had some great athletes.
“I remember the year we won the state championship, we played West Vigo in the regular season. They beat us. We only lost two games that year. Dick Ballinger, he doesn’t mention that much, but I’m sure he was quite happy.
“The year before that, [West Vigo] beat Bloomington South and they were the state champion that year. Back-to-back years [West Vigo] beat the state champions.”
From Jennings’ perspective, he’s not the least surprised the Vikings have enjoyed success through the years.
In the past 10 seasons, the Vikings have been flirting with their own state championship. In four of those seasons (2000, 2004, 2008, 2009), they lost to the eventual state champion in tournament play.
West Vigo has had eight Indiana All-Star players: Kenny Pearson (current third base coach and father of senior pitcher/second baseman Jordan Pearson), Kelly Houser, Jeff Sell, Jim Hill, Culley DeGroote, Nick Surber, Dan Cuffle and John Cox.
Toss in more recent players such as Kevin Egli, Lenny Leclercq, Casey DeGroote, Morgan Coombs, Adam Lindsay and Bryan Chestnut.
This year’s edition featured a trio of Division I college recruits in seniors Jordan Pearson, Jeremy Lucas and Cameron Fagg. And the future bodes well with this year’s strong group of underclassmen.
Jennings learned following up a state title brings about high expectations. But despite having good players, he also learned winning on a regular basis in the state tournament is a dicey proposition at best.
“When we won the state championship in ‘74, I thought that was a pretty big deal,” Jennings recalled. “I never thought that would follow me throughout the years. Hardly a week goes by, or a month goes by, when somebody doesn’t mention that.”
But despite fielding several outstanding teams, winning 12 of 13 sectionals in one stretch, North only reached the state championship game one other time. In 1983, North lost 4-2 to Fort Wayne Northrop at Bush Stadium in Indianapolis.
“It’s funny, when you’ve won a state championship and several years later [1983] come back as a runner-up, it’s no big deal,” Jennings chuckled. “You don’t get the phone calls you did.
“I was in a restaurant [in Indianapolis] after we had lost and somebody told me they’d thought we should have done a lot better that year. I thought, well, runner-up is not too bad.”
Jennings still is convinced his 1975 team, the year following the state championship, had state title potential.
He recalled North beating Lafayette Jeff and their top pitcher (24-0 in his career) in the semistate on a hot Saturday afternoon at Lafayette’s Loeb Stadium. But the championship game that night was rained out — which included a tornado warning.
“I thought the rainout was a good thing, letting the kids rest up from from playing Jeff,” Jennings observed. “But it didn’t work out that way.” His Patriots bowed out of the tournament in disappointing fashion the following Monday night.
He also regretted never winning a sectional in his time at Garfield, despite having a pair of talented players in Larry Gallagher and Howard Williams, both drafted by major league teams.
West Vigo has had lulls in its tournament success too, despite its recent stretch of fielding good teams. After their state finals appearance in 2000, the next three years they failed to get out of the regional (twice) and sectional (once).
After reaching the semistate championship game in 2004, the Vikings lost to Edgewood the next three years in the sectional.
Jennings knows from experience that even a very talented team need good breaks to be successful along the tournament trail.
“The year we won the state championship, Clinton had a real good team that year,” Jennings stated. “We beat them up there about one or two runs. Come regional time, they threw a different pitcher against us — they had two real good pitchers. But we were able to beat them I think 6-0. I always thought if they had thrown one of these pitchers we’d seen the first time, it might have been different.
“We had a real good game with Brazil, and Brazil could have very easily beaten us. I look back on that game and I thought, ‘Wow, we were really lucky.’
“You have to get some breaks, but you also have to make your good breaks. And you have to have good luck. I’ve always told them, good luck is when opportunity meets preparation. Bad luck is when you don’t prepare, I guess,” he laughed.
Jennings, a member of the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame, is proud of his team’s mark on history, noting it was great for North and also Terre Haute.
Thirty-five years later, West Vigo also had its baseball legacy in mind in the waning days of this season.
“It finally hit me this week that all the hard work we’ve done has paid off,” said junior shortstop Tyler Wampler a couple days prior to last Saturday’s state title game. “This team, this coaching staff and this town deserve this, to have us get to the state and make history.”
Win or lose, the Vikings indeed enjoyed an incredible and historic run this season.
High School
It's been a while: Last Vigo team to win a baseball state title? Try the 1974 North Patriots
- High School
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It’s a rivalry-filled Memorial Day for sectional contenders
Longtime rivalries figure to determine high school baseball sectional champions throughout the Wabash Valley today, with semifinal and final games scheduled at four sites and a stand-alone championship game at a fifth.
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South tops Oldenburg to win tennis semistate
There was no evidence of rally caps, rally towels and certainly no rally squirrels, but Terre Haute South’s No. 1 singles player Maddie Kesler needed a rally in the worst way.
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New route leads to same place for South girls tennis
For so many years, the road to the IHSAA girls tennis state finals for local teams ran through Vincennes (regional) and Jasper (semistate). In other words, south and more south.
This year, their trip was re-routed through Greencastle (regional) and Center Grove (semistate). So it cnahged to east and more east. -
PREP ROUNDUP: Robinson tops Greenville in sectional semifinal
Robinson jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, then cruised to a convincing 12-3 victory over Greenville in a IHSA Class 2A Vandalia sectional semifinal game on Thursday.
Ashlyn Sullivan was 2 for 3 with a double, home run and three RBIs to lead the winning Maroons. -
West Vigo baseball falls in sectional to Owen Valley
West Vigo overcame the odds to win 20 high school baseball games this season with a lineup that often included four freshmen and few seniors.
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South Vermillion softball's late-season surge comes to end
A late-season surge by South Vermillion wasn’t quite enough to halt a high school softball sectional winning streak by the host team Thursday night, as Edgewood got on top early and held on for a 5-2 win in the championship game of the Class 3A Edgewood Sectional.
The loss was just the second in the last 12 games for the Wildcats. The Mustangs, however, haven’t lost a sectional softball game for eight years in a row. -
South takes second, North third at boys track regional
Terre Haute South finished second and Terre Haute North third on Thursday night at the boys track and field regional at Evansville Central, with 11 individuals and three relay teams qualifying for the state finals June 2.
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PREP ROUNDUP: White River Valley baseball holds off Eminence
Three Eminence errors in the top of the sixth inning finally enabled White River Valley to score in high school baseball Thursday night, and the Wolverines went on to a 5-0 win in Class A Shakamak Sectional action.
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Feeling cursed: South bitten in sectional final again
Terre Haute South softball is not even close to being as cursed as a certain northside baseball team in Chicago, but it might just seem like it.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Mundy, Porter, Knight individual regional winners
Chanli Mundy and Keirra Porter of Terre Haute North were among the individual winners in the IHSAA Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Thornton puts away South Vermillion
Cody Thornton’s three-run blast over the left-field fence was the finishing touch to West Vigo’s 10-3 victory over South Vermillion in the opening game of the Class 3A Greencastle Sectional on Wednesday.
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Lakers triumph, go home for regional
Shakamak took Class A Clay City Sectional honors in high school softball for the first time since 2009 Wednesday, defeating White River Valley 9-5 in the title tilt.
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North Vermillion avenges losses
North Vermillion avenged two high school softball losses during the regular season to win the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional championship Wednesday with a 3-2 triumph over the host Panthers.
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Pats, Knights will meet in sectional
Adler Ingalsbe pooh-poohed his lack of velocity Wednesday night, yet the Terre Haute North pitcher was throwing BBs in the first game compared to Mooresville’s Brandon Topie in the nightcap.
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South outbattles Northview to reach sectional final
Even the best of high school softball pitchers can’t keep all the batters in the middle of Terre Haute South’s lineup down.
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Panthers get 20th win in sectional
Riverton Parke will face North Vermillion in the Class A softball sectional championship at Riverton Parke today, with action commencing at 6 p.m.
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Plainfield Sectional all about parity
Considering Terre Haute South has won five consecutive Class 4A sectional titles in high school baseball, naming the Braves as favorites to capture the 2012 Class 4A Plainfield Sectional would not seem far-fetched.
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PREP ROUNDUP: North Vermillion in title game
Casey West had a triple and three runs scored to help North Vermillion softball advance to the championship game of the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional on Tuesday.
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North takes second in track regional
Terre Haute North finished second with 74 points, six behind team champion Evansville Reitz, during the Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Wildcats advance to sectional softball final; West Vigo falls
Patience, patience.
South Vermillion exhibited great patience, being very selective at the plate and it paid off royally in the fourth inning. -
South, Crawfordsville win in regional tennis semis
Terre Haute South outlasted Fountain Central 4-1 in the first round of the girls high school tennis regional Tuesday, advancing the Braves into today’s championship match against Crawfordsville.
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Braves, Knights open with wins
It was an excellent night for starting softball pitchers to help their own cause Monday night in the Class 4A Northview Sectional.
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Lough dreamt about McMillan
A two-time state finalist in wrestling and a two-time all-Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference football player and wrestler, Tsali Lough of Terre Haute South was named the male recipient of the 2012 McMillan Award on Monday night at South’s Senior Awards Night.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Panthers cruise in sectional opener
Sarah Burnham pitched a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in high school softball Monday evening as host Riverton Parke defeated defending champion Rockville 10-0 in opening-round action at the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional.
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Notable tradition bodes well for Riverton Parke
Located practically in the shadow of a high school that sets one state standard in track and field, Riverton Parke has a tendency to be overlooked in that sport.
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Vikings get 18th win over Shakamak
West Vigo began a busy week of high school baseball Monday on a winning note, defeating Shakamak 6-3.
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Greencastle new site for girls tennis regional
The starting times might prove to be a bone of contention, but otherwise coaches Bill Blankenbaker and Emily Goff are thrilled their respective girls high school tennis teams will begin play today at the Greencastle Regional.
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Northview sectional groups 3 20-win teams
Three teams with 20-plus victories will attempt to claim the Class 4A Northview Sectional crown for high school softball this week, and most of the other Wabash Valley sectional fields also appear to be wide open.
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Terre Haute South softball takes Riverton Parke tournament
Terre Haute South is going into the Class 4A Sectional at Northview on Monday with momentum, confidence, a deep bench and a healthier pitching staff than it has had in quite a while.
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North baseball splits doubleheader with Indy North Central
Some of their incentive could have been sapped a couple of nights earlier, when Center Grove achieved an eight-inning victory over Warren Central to clinch the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference high school baseball championship.
- More High School Headlines
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