Reprinted courtesy of:
Tipton Tribune


 By GENE F. CONARD
LAFAYETTE –– It was a tough, down-to-the-wire kind of contest one would expect with a sectional title up for grabs – crafty pitching dominating eager bats; stellar defense sparked by crucial plays and the survivor emerging by a mere whisker.
Still, Wednesday night’s Class A Lafayette Catholic Sectional championship wasn’t perfect in the eyes and minds of Coach Sean Sean Swan and his Tri-Central Trojans because the host and highly-favored Knights turned a mere four singles, a passed ball, wild pitch and sacrifice fly into the only run that counted in a 1-0 victory, the first Trojan shutout of a 14-10 season.
The Knights of Coach Tom Bordenet, now a glossy 24-4 with LCC’s eighth sectional diadem and third season win over TC, got marvelous four-hit, 10-strikeout, one-walk pitching from junior southpaw Richard Glaze. He dazzled TC with a superb fastball-curveball mixture while using just 93 pitches.
He whiffed three in the fourth, two in the second and sixth frames, and one in each the first, fifth and seventh. He had nary a three-ball count or permit a ball to the outfield other than four TC singles.
“I felt really strong,” the crafty junior said, “the best I’ve felt all year. When we scored that run in the fifth I told myself ‘We’ve got it.’ That was all I needed. I started them out with fastballs, then went to my breaking pitch. My confidence grew as the game went on.”
Swan offered: “Glaze is the best we’ve seen this year, he was phenomenal. He was in and out all night. We tried to adjust but couldn’t touch him. It was the kind of game which felt the first team that scored would win, and that’s the way it worked out.”
TC had a chance to take over in the third when Blake Burnett doubled to left with two down. On a 1-2 pitch Josh Copp ripped a single to right; Swan had Burnett going all the way, and the Knights made the perfect relay, rightfielder Matt Combs to second baseman Reed Drysdale to catcher Tyler Child. Burnett was nailed just inches from a score thanks to Child’s perfect block.
“I’m not sure Blake got a good jump,” Swan said. “It was early and we had to send him. It took a perfect relay to get him. Copp’s shot was right at the right-fielder who was playing in, and he got to the ball quickly. Had the ball been either way Blake would’ve made it. But that’s baseball.”
LCC’s Bordenet said: “Glaze did a terrific job for us, mixed his pitches well and kept TC off-balance with his breaking pitch. But Copp was great, too, with his fastball and breaking pitch. He gave us trouble.”
As to Copp’s mound effort, Swan said: “Josh was just as good as Glaze. He was in the strike zone all night and pitched well enough to win. He did his job, we just didn’t give him any support.”
The Trojan junior hurler, finishing the year 4-2 and eyeing a summer with Kokomo’s Post 6 Legion club, fanned seven, walked two, allowed only three balls to the outfield other than the four hits and used 103 pitches.
He offered: “I felt great and had command of my pitches, but I left a few changeups in the strike zone. Give credit to LCC, they’re a heckuva team.
“I felt comfortable all the way, and if we could just have strung a couple hits it would’ve been different. You can’t fault anybody. You have to trust your hitters to get some runs. We didn’t, but I had difficulty seeing the ball at the plate.
“LCC was fortunate we had a couple pitches get loose at the plate, and they got the only run. But it’s been a great year,” he finished.
Copp worked out of a two-out, two-on situation in the second by fanning Combs after right-fielder Blaine Pyke had made a running stab of Austin Windler’s liner. He averted trouble in the LCC fourth when Drysdale singled but was erased when Copp barehanded Child’s bouncer and threw to second for a force; walked Glaze and Charles Bobillo but got Combs on a tapper.
A crucial play came in the fifth when Austin Munn singled on the first pitch, moved up on a passed ball and to third on a wild pitch as Scott Windler walked. Cole Hruskovich rapped a flyball to right-center, and Munn scored easily. More trouble was erased when Dru Anthrop’s smash to Corban Fiscus at short was turned into a rally-killing double play.
Copp retired the last six Knights he faced, and it boiled down to TC’s final at-bat in the seventh. Blaine Pyke beat out an infield single with two out, but Trever Davis’ bouncer turned into a force at second, and the Trojan season was over.
Pyke made a running stab of Windler’s liner to right in the third to avert TC trouble
Fiscus’ smash headed to the rightfield corner in the first was snared by Jason Aldridge that foiled a TC drive inasmuch as Copp walked two batters later. Davis, who wiped out Anthrop’s steal attempt with a perfect throw in the first, singled with two down in the second but went nowhere.
Then came Burnett’s double and Copp’s single that went for naught; Kyle Dickover was safe on LCC’s lone error with one down in the fifth, and would’ve been on second had the umpires called an obvious balk on Glaze. Instead he was nailed in a rundown.
Swan finished with: “I think we’ve had a very good season, and I just hope the kids see the right way of doing things. We’re not that far off. We’re losing six seniors, Burnett, Tyler Burke, Andrew Bilby, Fiscus, Jordan Shaffer and Bryan Reynolds, but we’ll have several kids back, and I think the ability is there. We just have to see how many kids really want it.”
LCC now moves to the Cowan Regional where it will face Monroe Central in the 10:30 a.m. opener.
OAK HILL CHAMPIONSHIP
GAME WILL BE TODAY
Tipton’s Blue Devils had to wait another day to try and repeat as sectional champions as the Class 2A Oak Hill Sectional championship game was postponed until 5 p.m. today because of the rain.