Hackworth strikes out 15, gives up four hits, belts home run
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
SYRACUSE – Following a 7-2 win over NorthWood in Monday evening’s championship game of Class 3A Sectional 21 at Wawasee High School, first-year Tippecanoe Valley baseball coach Ryan Moore got the traditional cooler bath. A few feet away, Valley ace James Hackworth was entertaining questions from the media about how he put the Panthers on ice. “I wanted it bad,” said the hard-throwing southpaw. “This is my senior year, I really wanted to win a third sectional. My curve was off a little, but I was able to work my fastball around. Everything was working, for the most part.” Yes it was, as the Indiana State-bound Hackworth struck out 15, including the final five batters he faced, and gave up just three hits. “I was going to take James out in the seventh inning,” said Moore, whose team won the program’s fifth overall sectional title and third in four years. “He told me he wanted the ball. When you have a guy like James Hackworth on the mound, you have extra confidence, you feel like nothing can go wrong.” Hackworth also hit a first-pitch solo home run to lead off the top of the third inning, pushing the Vikings’ lead to 2-0, though he smiled and shrugged his third round-tripper of the season off as “luck.” Valley added three more runs in the inning, before scoring one in the fifth and one in the sixth. The 7-0 lead was more than enough with Hackworth on the mound. “We showed up and played baseball today,” said Moore, whose team beat West Noble 9-2 in Monday morning’s semifinal round. “It showed in the way we hit, the way we played defense, every thing. There’s no doubt in my mind this team came here today to win the championship.” The Vikings are now 16-9 on the season and advanced to Saturday’s Bellmont Regional, where they will play Hamilton Heights at 11 a.m. NorthWood, which beat Lakeland 7-1 in the semifinal round earlier in the day, finished its season with a 20-9 record. In Saturday’s other reginal semifinal game, No. 3 Leo will play conference rival and host school Bellmont at 1 p.m. The regional final is set for 8 p.m. “We need to win one,” said Hackworth, referring to a regional championship. “We need to keep the mentality we have and go win the regional. We’re playing solid baseball right now.” Hackworth struck out every NorthWood batter at least once. The Panthers scored their two runs in the sixth inning. Trent Sellers reached on an error, and then Andrew Anderson hit a single. After William Kirkwood popped up for the first out, Chad Ervin ripped a two-run single, scoring Sellers and Anderson. Hackworth responded by striking out Blake Cleveland and Hunter Lane to get out of the inning, then fanned Ryan Gerber, Joshua Miller and Kyle McCoy for a 1-2-3 seventh inning. Brody Andrews, Dan Miller, Kameron Larimer and Hackworth – all seniors – had two hits each for the Vikings. Others to record a hit for Valley in the championship were sophomore Tanner Andrews and juniors Clayton Adamson, Mason Teel and Jarred Littlejohn. Larimer, Teel and Brody Andrews all had a double for the Vikings. In Valley’s 9-2 semifinal win over West Noble, Adamson picked up the win on the mound. He worked all seven innings, giving up just four hits, striking out two and walking two. The Chargers scored their two runs in the top of the first inning on a two-run homer by senior Korey Kendall. The Vikings responded with four runs of their own in the first inning, and then added one in the second, two in the third and two more in the fifth. Tanner Andrews, Hackworth, Miller and Ritchey had two hits each against West Noble, with the latter three all hitting a double.
T. VALLEY 7, NORTHWOOD 2 (sectinal final) TV 104 011 0 – 7 12 1 NW 000 001 0 – 2 3 1 James Hackworth (W, 7IP, 15K, 3H, 2R, 1ER) and Jacob Ritchey; Thomas Clem (L, 5IP, 0K, 10H, 6R, 6ER), Tanner Roberts (6th, 1IP, 1K, 1R, 1ER) 2B – Brody Andrews (TV), Kameron Larimer (TV), Mason Teel (TV) HR – James Hackworth (TV) Records: T. Valley 16-9, NorthWood 20-9
T. VALLEY 9, WEST NOBLE 2 (sectional semifinal) WN 200 000 0 – 2 4 3 TV 412 020 X – 9 11 3 Nick Noe (L, 5IP, 1K, 11H, 9R, 7ER), Skylar Campbell (6th, 1IP, 2K, 0H, 0R) and Korey Kendall; Clayton Adamson (W, 7IP, 2K, 4H, 2R, 2ER) and Jacob Ritchey 2B – Nick Noe (WN), Hackworth (TV), Miller (TV), Ritchey (TV) HR – Noe (WN)
