Unbelievable!

By Jen Gibson, Times-Union Sports Editor

INDIANAPOLIS -Ê"One-two-three get nasty!" was the Manchester Squires' battle cry throughout the season.

Saturday afternoon the Squires got nasty in the state championships as they defeated Batesville 9-8 to capture the Class 2A title at Indianapolis' Victory Field.

The funny thing is, the only people who believed the Squires could do it were the Squires themselves. The Manchester squad went into the Wabash Sectional sporting a 7-16 record, the worst record in the sectional. They lost their last game of the season to Columbia City, and put together no more than two wins in a row through the entire regular season.

But that did not faze the scrappy Squire squad.

To say the least, the Squires were the underdogs throughout the tournament.

"Unbelievable, this is just unbelievable. I can't say enough about what these kids have done," said Manchester head coach Jack Rupley. "They believed in themselves and in each other all through the tournament. That's something we didn't have during the regular season.

"I believed in them all year long. I knew this team had the talent and ability to do great things, but until the tournament I don't think they understood. Once we got into the tournament, the seniors didn't want to stop playing, so I told them not to stop."

The favored 27-4 Batesville Bulldogs started the game off on the right foot. They scored two runs in the top pf the first inning to get the upper hand early.

However, the Squires were undaunted.

Jediah Carandante led off the bottom of the first inning with a single and moved to second on a passed ball. Anthony Sorg reached first on a walk, and Drew Walters loaded the bases with a single.

A fielder's choice by Josh Staton drove the first Squire runs across the plate, and a single to left field by Brent Westendorf sent two more runs across the plate. Todd Dale reached first on a fielder's choice that sent Westendorf to the bench, and then Adam Young walked.

With runners on first and second, Nate Bucher hit a single to drive Dale home. An error by Batesville's pitcher allowed Young and Bucher to cross the plate, putting Manchester up 6-2.

Manchester's six runs in the bottom of the first set state finals record for most runs in an inning.

Batesville scored another run in the second inning to cut Manchester's lead to 6-3, but the Squires fought back again in the bottom of the fourth.

Sorg started another Squire rally with a one-out bunt for a single. Walters followed with another bunt-single, and Josh Staton reached on an error by Batesville's secondbaseman that allowed Sorg to score. Batesville loaded the bases by intentionally walking Westendorf.

That strategy did not work well for the Bulldogs. Dale stepped to the plate and hit a single to left field to drive in two more Manchester runs and put the Squires up 9-3.

But Batesville was not out of it. The Bulldogs put together a string of hits to score four runs in the top of the fifth frame to slice Manchester's lead to two, 9-7.

After Manchester went scoreless in the bottom of the fifth, Batesville stepped to the plate again. The Bulldogs scored another run in the top of the sixth to make the score 9-8 in Manchester's favor.

The Squires went out 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth, and Batesville stepped to the plate again in the top of the seventh.

Manchester's relief pitched Dale hit the first batter of the inning, Batesville's Stephen Meyer, to put the tying run on first and give Batesville a glimmer of hope.

Squire catcher Dustin Simcoe took away that hope as he threw Meyer out on an attempt to steal second. Dale struck out the last two batters of the inning to give Manchester it's first state championship title in school history.

"When Todd went out in the seventh, he said 'I'm gonna bring it home," said Rupley. "And he did. You know, Josh (Staton) saved Todd yesterday and Todd saved Josh today."

Staton picked up the win on the mound after pitching five innings with seven earned runs and eight hits. Dale got his first save of the season by pitching two innings, allowing one run and striking out two batters.

In all, Manchester belted out nine hits in six innings. Sorg, Walters and Westendorf led the Squires with two hits each, while Carandante, Dale and Bucher each had one hit.

The state-champion Squires finish the season 14-16.

NOTES -ÊDrew Walters captured the Class 2A L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award ... The 14-16 Manchester squad is only the second sub-.500 team in IHSAA history to win a state title. The only other team was Class A Rossville, who won the baseball title with a 15-17 record. ... Manchester and Batesville set two new team state records for Class 2A. They combined for the most runs in a game (17) and most hits (19) ... Batesville set the mark for most triples in a game (3) and the player with the most hits in a game (Sam Simons, 3) ... Manchester set the record for the most runs in an inning (six runs in the first).

MANCHESTER 9, BATESVILLE 8

Batesville 210 041 0 - 8 10 2

Manchester 600 300 x - 9 9 0

Batesville AB R H RBI

Simons rf 4 1 3 1

Neumeier ss 3 2 2 0

Hartman cf 4 2 1 2

Meyer p 2 0 1 2

Davis pr 0 0 0 0

Jewell c 2 1 1 1

Gutzwiller lf 3 0 1 1

Amberger 1b 3 0 0 0

Stacy 2b 3 1 1 0

Owens 3b 1 1 0 1

Totals 25 8 10 8

Manchester AB R H RBI

Carandante cf 3 1 1 0

Sorg ss 3 2 2 0

Walters 2b 4 2 2 0

Staton p 4 1 0 2

Westendorf lf 3 0 2 2

Dale 3b 4 1 1 2

Young 1b 1 1 0 0

Bucher rf 3 1 1 1

Kelsey dh 3 0 0 0

Simcoe c 0 0 0 0

Totals 28 9 9 7

E - Meyer, Stacy. DP -ÊBatesville 1, Manchester 1. LOB -ÊBatesville 4, Manchester 6. 3B - Hartman, Gutzwiller, Stacy. SB -ÊJewell, Owens. CS -ÊSimons. Sac -ÊNeumeier, Meyer, Jewell, Owens.

IP H R ER BB SO

Batesville

Meyer, L 3 1/3 8 9 6 4 1

Owens 2 2/3 1 0 0 1 0

Manchester

Staton, W 5 8 7 7 2 1

Dale, S 2 2 1 1 0 2

WP -ÊMeyer, Owens. PB -ÊJewell. HB -ÊStaton 1, Dale 1.

Drew Walters Earns Mental Attitude Award And Fights Battle Off Field

By Jen Gibson, Times-Union Sports Editor

With a .432 batting average going into the state finals, Drew Walters led the Manchester baseball team in hitting.

As a senior he did his part to keep the team positive even when things were down. And that was no easy feat considering the Squires won no more than two games in a row through the entire regular season.

Then when the team turned things around in the tournament, Walters kept the spirit going and earned the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award in the state finals at Victory Field in Indianapolis Saturday afternoon.

The L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award is presented to a senior participant in the state championship. One award is presented in each class to a the player who has excellent mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability. The award is named after the second commissioner of the IHSAA, the late L.V. Phillips who served as commissioner from 1945-1962.

But the battle on the field was not the only fight Walters was waging.

"During the fall, I started lifting and gained 10 pound of muscle," said Walters. "Then all of a sudden I started losing weight. Pretty soon I'd lost 20 pounds. My stomach was hurting, and I didn't know what was wrong."

So Walters went to one doctor. Then another. Finally he went to a specialist in Fort Wayne where he was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease.

"Drew had been our leading hitter all season, but he started losing weight and he was not feeling good," said Manchester coach Jack Rupley. "He fought through it for months before he was finally tested. Then he had a colonoscopy and they found out he had Crohn's Disease."

Crohn's Disease is an inflamation of the gastrointestinal tract, usually the intestines and the colon. It is not curable but can be treated with medication. It is primarily a disease found in young people, and most cases are diagnosed before the age of 30.

Through the illness and doctor's visits, Walters missed just one game, a make-up game against Oak Hill.

"It was hard to concentrate in practice, and I had to miss one game," said Walters.

"Through the whole thing, he was always his bubbly self," said Rupley. "We love him to death and hate to see anything bad happen to him. But Drew has done really well and stayed tough throughout this experience with the disease."

"Now I've been on the pills for three weeks, and I'm feeling better," said Walters. "I'll have to take them for the rest of my life."

In those three weeks, Walters and his teammates made a dramatic run through the state tournament, winning the Wabash Sectional, the Jimtown Regional and finally the state finals.

Now the state champion and mental attitude award winner says he is just waiting to wake up.

"It seems like it's still a dream," said Walters. "It's really hard to fathom. It's amazing. I am so proud of our team and what we have done. No one expected us to do as well as we have and we proved them all wrong.

"Before the sectional, we were disappointed in ourselves, at te way we had played through the regular season. No one was having much fun. We knew we could do better. Then after we won the sectional, things changed. We had a blast. Practice was fun and we were really enjoying ourselves."

A $1,000 scholarship will be donated to Manchester High School in Walter's name courtesy of Farm Bureau Insurance for winning the mental attitude award.