2008 Sectional vs Bethesda Christian May 26, 2008 I remember losses a lot more than I do good wins. There are always factors, decisions, or plays to remember and think about them being done differently. When we had particularly good teams or teams that played well together, it was always difficult for seasons to come to an end, especially when you believe you could have, should have won! There are two games that can still make me not feel well. This article is about one of them.
This game was the first game of the 2008 Sectional. It was the first Sectional game held at Lutheran High School to my knowledge. After we lost I remember wandering around campus as there was a game after ours. I could not believe we had lost. It was even worse to have to watch a Championship game played on our diamond without us being in the game.The 2008 season was a very good one. We had senior leadership, good youngplayers and some pitching. The senior class of Jared Broughton, Michael Longworth, Brad Naffziger, Jordan Jones, and Zach Beaton had experienced success and wanted to go out strong. Entering the Sectional we had a record of 18 wins and 8 losses.
A few days before we had beaten Perry Meridian 3 to 2 at Holder Field by scoring a run in the top of the seventh. Caleb Hougesen had pitched 7 innings for the win. I believe it was Senior Night for the Falcons.During the season our losses had come to Chatard, Roncalli, Triton Central, Pike, Heritage Christian, Brebeuf (#1 in 3A), and a doubleheader loss to West Lafayette who had two pitchers that pitched in college D1.Wins had been over Guerin, Scecina, Speedway, University, Covenant Christian,Beech Grove, Lapel, Edinburgh (2), Tech, Indy Kings, Morristown, Broad Ripple,Tech, Southwestern, Trinity Lutheran, Ritter and frustratingly, Bethesda Christian. We had defeated Bethesda Christian earlier in May, 11-0. We were very positive in playing them again in the Sectional.
The day of the Sectional was different. The weather was cloudy and very humid.We got to the field and were questioning whether we would be able to play. While we were waiting, someone started playing music that was not very good, a random memory. I believe the atmosphere and the doubt about playing took us down some. All of a sudden, we could see the bad weather moving to another direction and we learned we were going to be playing. My memory says we played at one o’clock, but I could be wrong.Our line up for the game was:
Caleb Hougesen | SS | Sophomore |
Jordan Jones | 2B | Senior |
Jared Broughton | 3B | Senior |
Matt Ryan | 1B | Junior |
Michael Longworth | P | Senior |
Brad Naffziger | LF | Senior |
Zach Beaton | C | Senior |
Kyle Brockett | RF | Sophomore |
Easton Kirstein | DH | Sophomore |
Mattric Ragan | CF | Sophomore |
After losing to us earlier in the season, Bethesda Christian started a freshman named Drew Bennett as their pitcher. We knew nothing about him. We learned pretty quickly. Drew was right-handed, decent fastball, but had good off speed pitches. We started senior Michael Longworth. Michael had been our #1 during the season and had pitched well for us. Looking back, I am not sure if it was a good idea or not, but Michael had pitched against Bethesda previously and had shut them out over 5 innings. We thought he could do it again.
In the top of the first, Michael gave up a two-out single and then got the clean up guy to ground out. Good start. In the bottom half, Caleb led off with a walk and then we had a strikeout. Bennett then walked Jared Broughton, their strategy for the day.
Our next two hitters struck out. This scenario was typical for us during the game. Not able to take advantage of opportunities. With a groundball or fly out, we would have scored in the 1st inning. You may remember, that a major point of emphasis for me in coaching was that it was imperative for a hitter to score a runner from 3rd base with 1 out. We did not get that done. In the top of the 2nd, Michael got the first two batters on groundballs. We then had an error and a walk. Michael got the third out on a strikeout. In the bottom half of the 2nd, we went down in order. Twice we hit dribblers back to the pitcher. Seems like we did that a thousand times that game.The third inning started off with their lead off hitter working a walk on a full count. Unfortunately, on the next play, a groundball was hit and the connection was not made for a force out at 2nd base and the runner ended up at 3 rd base and the batter at 1st base. They then got a fielders choice to score the run.
Michael got the next 2 hitters but the damage was done. Walks and errors can be killers. We went down in order in the bottom half of the third.Michael had a good 4th inning with 2 strikeouts, with one walk and a groundout. Jared led off the fourth so with no runners they decided to pitch to him. Jared hit a hard shot but right to the shortstop who was able to make the play. Matt Ryan then singled and Longworth walked to give us runners on 1st and 2nd with one out.
We could not get anything else going with a pop out and then a lineout to end the fourth with Bethesda leading 1-0. As we all know the dimensions of our baseball diamond can produce some hits or home runs that probably would not be home runs at most other baseball diamonds, particularly down the leftfield line. Over the years, I am sure our teams took advantage of the dimensions better than our opponents. I am guessing that we got a lot of outs because visiting players tried to hit home runs.The lead off hitter for Bethesda led off the fifth with an HR. Concerning, but a two run deficit was not unsurmountable. Michael then struck out the next hitter. The third hitter then hit a ball down the leftfield line that went over the fence. I can still see it going over and thinking it might not be our day, but we had 9 more outs to score. Michael got the next two hitters.
In our half of the fifth, we went down in order. Again two dribblers back to thepitcher. After 5 innings, Bethesda Christian led 3-0. In the 6th , Michael got them out 1-2-3 including 2 strike outs. I was hoping we could put something together in the 6th as we would have the middle of our order up. With one out, Jared was hit by a pitch, most likely intentionally. A couple of years earlier, we played Bethesda and they hit Jared and Cory Emmons twice each. Their coach believed in not letting the other team’s best hitters being given a chance to win the game. Hitting batters intentionally is not my approach, but walking them works. So, with Jared on first base, Matt Ryan walked. Michael Longworth then singled and Jared scored. We then grounded into a force play at 2nd , but had runners on 1st and 3rd with two outs. Zach Beaton walked to load the bases. Our next hitter struck out to end the inning, but we got a run and would have our top of the order hitters up in the 7th. In the top of the 7th, Michael finished off his outing by getting BC out in order. Over 7 innings, he gave up 3 hits, 3 walks and struck out 8 batters. A pretty good day. As we started the 7th, we got a lead off walk from our DH Easton Kirstein. Caleb Hougesen then singled but we then had a strike out. Jared then walked to load the bases with one out. I am sure everybody had visions of us now coming back to at least tie the game. Matt Ryan had singled his previous at bat so we were hoping for another. Matt hit the first pitch, a hard ground ball up the middle. But with Matt being a left-handed hitter, their shortstop was playing up the middle. He fielded the ball, got to second for the force out then threw to first to complete the double play. Our season was over just like that. It was not meant to be.We ended up with only 3 hits, but had 6 walks and 2 batters hit by a pitch. We could only get one runner across the plate. In the last two innings, we had 7 runners get on base. A frustrating day for the Saints. Our season ended with a record of 18 and 9. Bethesda Christian won the one game Regional but lost in the Semi-State. I am convinced we would have won those games but we just had a bad day and Drew Bennett plus his teammates had a good day. We would get some measure of avenging the loss against Drew in a following season, but this loss still stings.
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