MORRISTOWN —
Pitching and defense has been Shakamak’s bread and butter all season.
Just recently, the Lakers have added abundant and timely hitting as the meat to their winning sandwich.
To wit, No. 2-ranked Shakamak pounded out a combined 21 hits, accumulating 21 runs in winning both its Class A Morristown regional baseball games on Saturday, capping it off by defeating No. 6 Rising Sun 7-2 in the championship game Saturday night.
Shakamak (26-6) advances to the Class A semistate at either Jasper or Plainfield Saturday, the site and time of game to be determined today.
“The last two or three weeks, [the hitting] has been coming on,” Shakamak coach Chip Sweet said. “We said all along early in the season, the way we’ve been pitching and the way we’ve been playing defense, if our offense ever caught up we’d be tough to handle. We’re swinging the bats really well now.”
The hottest-hitting Lakers’ player has to be its No. 9 batter in the lineup, Robert Fowler.
Fowler was 3 for 4 with two runs scored, one double and two RBIs in the championship game.
On the day, the senior was a juggernaut, going 4 for 5 with five runs scored and four RBIs.
In the championship game, the Lakers tallied four runs in the second inning and never looked back.
Brett Yeryar led off with a single, followed by a walk and hit batsman to load the bases with one out. Fowler laced a single to left field, driving in two runs.
Brock Dowell followed with a single that drove in a third run, and should have driven in a fourth run, but Fowler stumbled and fell down rounding third base. He recovered to get back to third, but moments later scored on a wild pitch.
“When you get in the championship game like this, you get behind like that, it really, really puts the pressure on you … no doubt about it,” Sweet stated.
The score remained 4-0 until the fourth inning, when Fowler led off with a double, moved to third on a ground out, scoring on a wild pitch to put the Lakers up 5-0.
The Lakers plated unearned runs in both the fifth and seventh innings for insurance.
In the fifth, Brodie Crowe led off with a single. He was still at first when the second out was recorded, a fly ball to center field. But the Shiners’ centerfielder attempted to double off Crowe, the ball skipping away for an error, moving him to second. Christian Burris made them pay for that miscue with a two-out, RBI-single.
In the seventh, Luke Sweet doubled with one out, scoring on a Rising Sun fielding error. Sweet was 2 for 3 with two runs scored in the title tilt.
Yeryar (9-2) was the winning pitcher, tossing five shutout innings, allowing just two hit and two walks. He retired the last nine batters he faced in succession, including four via strikeouts — all those in succession too.
“I don’t think [Yeryar] was throwing as hard today as I’ve seen him in the past, but he’s going to go out there and have the ball around the plate and we’re going to have to make some plays for him,” Sweet noted. “He did what he had to do and I knew we had a couple guys ready to close things out.”
Rising Sun (21-6) fought to the end, pushing across single tallies in the sixth and seventh innings. But the Shiners could inflict no more damage thanks to a pair of sensational catches by Shakamak outfielders Brett Yeryar — he moved to rightfield in the sixth — and Kyler Fulford.
“I thought this might be the best outfield I’ve ever had,” Sweet said. “We’ve got kids that can really chase down the baseball. We pitch to contact … we’ve had our share of strikeouts this year … but our defense in the outfield has been extraordinary all year”.
Sweet also proved he’s not lost a step in avoiding “most” of the effects of an attempt by his players to empty the contents of the team’s water cooler on his person in the postgame celebration.
“For me it’s so unbelievable with each group of kids each year,” Sweet smiled. “It’s been a couple year, and we have a couple seniors here … they were part of something as freshmen when they were just on the team. It’s so rewarding to watch the enjoyment the kids get out of this.”
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High School
Lakers win Class A baseball regional
- High School
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Goatee, Bertoli ran away with Spring Athlete of the Year
When honoring athletes after a season of excellence, the phrase “what might have been” doesn’t usually come up.
But in the case of Terre Haute South’s Jackson Bertoli and Terre Haute North’s TaPring Goatee – the Tribune-Star’s Athletes of the Year for spring sports – there’s an air of unfinished business despite obvious recent successes.
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Post 346 opens tournament with two victories
Preston Tofaute got on base enough to score three runs, Cody Thornton smashed a two-run triple in the first inning and pitcher Pete Lannoo scattered four hits over a seven-inning complete game.
All of that helped Wayne Newton Post 346 down Lafayette Post 11 by a 7-2 score in the opener of the Terre Haute Inviatational tournament for American Legion baseball Thursday afternoon at Terre Haute North High School. -
North boys move up to 13th in golf state finals
Early Wednesday morning, Terre Haute North senior Ryan Baker and coach Abe Nasser headed out to the Legends of Indiana Golf Course for a range session.
Baker wasn’t happy with the 85 he shot in Tuesday’s first round of the IHSAA boys golf state finals.
“He was frustrated,” Nasser said.
Problem solved. Baker bounced back with a 2-over 74 Wednesday, helping the Patriots improve their team score by seven strokes.
The Patriots shot 304 as a team Wednesday, giving them a two-day score of 615, good for 13th place in the 15-team field. -
Big hill to climb for North golf
Terre Haute North boys golf is 21 strokes behind leaders at IHSAA boys golf tourney.
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Top of her game
There are a lot of surprising facts about blossoming volleyball prodigy Caitlyn Newton, including that shape-shifting thing she can apparently do, but maybe one of them stands out the most. She may only be scratching the surface.
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Camp, Howe win, then lose in state tennis tourney
Miranda Camp and Nicole Howe of Terre Haute South won their first match of high school tennis Friday at the state individual doubles finals, then won the first set against a powerful Park Tudor team before falling in three sets.
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Terre Haute North heading back to state finals in boys golf
Terre Haute North is going back to the state finals in boys high school golf for the first time in more than 10 years. The Patriots qualified for a trip to The Legends Course next week by tying for third in the Washington Regional at Country Oaks Golf Club and advancing with the better fifth score.
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North, South, Sullivan to compete at golf regional
Boys high school golf teams from the Wabash Valley will compete in the Washington Regional on Thursday, seeking a spot in the state finals to be played next week.
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Terre Haute North falls 6-1 to Brownsburg in opening game of Class 4A Regional
Terre Haute North coach Shawn Turner told the Patriots to raise their heads. He wanted to see their eyes at the close of their 24-7 high school baseball season.
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Terre Haute North girls shine on dreary day at track state finals
Led by a record setting 3,200-meter relay team and Keirra Porter’s long jump, Terre Haute North turned in its best finish ever in the 40th annual IHSAA Girls Track & Field Championships on Saturday at Indiana University in Bloomington.
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Valley teams will have to wait until Monday for baseball regionals
Rain and the threat of more rain caused postponements of high school baseball regionals involving Terre Haute North, West Vigo and Shakamak on Saturday.
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Rockville's season ends at Lafayette Central Catholic
Lafayette Central Catholic ended Rockville’s tourney run in high school baseball Saturday, defeating the Rox 8-0 in the first game of the LCC Class A Regional.
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IHSAA boys state track finals: Standing alone
It hadn’t been a particularly good day for Wabash Valley track and field Friday, and it wasn’t looking like a good one for Jackson Bertoli either.
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Terre Haute North, West Vigo return to baseball regionals
Terre Haute North’s baseball team hasn’t participated in an IHSAA regional since 2006. West Vigo’s wait hasn’t been as long, but it was 2010 when the Vikings last advanced from a sectional.
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Patriots girls take aim at state track title
Terre Haute North’s girls have several potential state champions today at Indiana University.
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South, North track athletes looking for big performances at state finals
Terre Haute South’s distance trio of Jackson Bertoli, Logan Hambrock and Riley Stohler appear to be the favorites to crack all-state status among Wabash Valley competitors today in the IHSAA boys track and field state finals at Indiana University.
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Internet site keeps area prep teams on airwaves
- PREP ROUNDUP: Locals to take part in Hoosiers All-Star Game
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South Vermillion softball can't overcome errors, Tri-West
Uncharacteristic errors led to eight unearned runs and hard-luck hitting made that impossible to overcome for South Vermillion, which fell 8-0 to Tri-West in Class 3A regional play.
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Clay City softball comes up short against Lutheran
Clay City closed its high school softball season Tuesday night with the best record ever for the program at 21-9.
The Eels wanted to add another win, the school’s first regional title, but they came up short.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Rockville wins baseball sectional
Rockville won its own Class A sectional in high school baseball Tuesday, defeating Covington 10-4 in the rain-delayed championship game.
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Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional:The wait is over
Three minutes into an interview with various media members, Terre Haute North baseball coach Shawn Turner couldn’t react fast enough to avoid a bucket of ice water being dumped over his head from behind by his giddy players. The soaking-wet Turner could shake it off with a smile, however, because his Patriots had just won the IHSAA Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional championship with a 13-3 six-inning triumph over Plainfield on Monday evening.
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Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional: TH North, Plainfield win squeakers
The high school baseball teams of Terre Haute North and Plainfield proved Monday that what a batter does early in the game is not necessarily indicative of what he will do in the late innings.
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Class 2A Linton Sectional: Eastern rains on Sullivan parade
Mother Nature put Sullivan’s quest for a high school baseball sectional championship on hold Monday night at Linton-Stockton High School. Sullivan (14-15) and Eastern Greene (16-7) will resume play in the Class 2A Sectional 47 championship game at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Linton’s Roy Herndon Field.
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Opening Day: Terre Haute Rex host Quincy
In his first season at the helm, first-year Terre Haute Rex manager Ronnie Prettyman is going to be surrounded by men he knows and trusts.
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Class A Shakamak Sectional: Stout pitching leads Union, Shakamak to final
Trey Bedwell and Patrick Green made sure their respective high school baseball teams would meet for the championship of the Class A Shakamak Sectional by pitching shutouts in semifinal contests Monday afternoon.
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Class A Rockville Sectional: Covington, Rockville title game postponed
Rockville and Covington won semifinal high school baseball games Monday to advance to the championship game of the Rockville Class A Sectional. Due to rain, the championship game was postponed. A decision was expected this morning whether the game will be played today or Wednesday.
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South Vermillion, Linton, Clay City look to stay alive in softball
There might have been as many reasons to think they wouldn’t be winning sectionals this spring as evidence to show they would, but high school softball teams from South Vermillion, Linton and Clay City will be playing one-game regionals Tuesday with the chance to keep defying the odds.
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West Vigo back on top of Class 3A baseball sectional
West Vigo won its sectional with a 6-4 victory over South Vermillion on a rainy night at Dick Ballinger Field.
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South runs into ‘buzzsaw’ at girls tennis semistate
Postmatch interviews don’t often begin with a coach and a reporter ready to blurt out the same word, but that was the case for Bill Blankenbaker and his interviewer Saturday morning after the Center Grove Semistate for girls high school tennis.
Unfortunately for Blankenbaker’s Terre Haute South team, that word was “buzzsaw.”
Greenwood’s Kawamoto twins made quick work of the top of the Braves’ singles lineup, so despite stellar efforts by both South doubles teams the Woodmen’s 3-2 victory didn’t seem all that close.
Greenwood moves on to Fishers, where it plays Floyd Central or Jasper on Friday in the state quarterfinals.
Also playing Friday, but at Park Tudor, will be South’s Miranda Camp and Nicole Howe, who reached the individual doubles finals for the second straight season by virtue of their 6-4, 6-2 win over the Greenwood team of Taylor Hudnall and Brittany Toney.
“It’s really exciting,” said Howe of the prospect of a second straight finals trip, “but I wish our team could’ve gone with us.”
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