ELKHART - Right before the storm rolled through, the Warsaw Community High School baseball team rolled over the Elkhart Central Blue Blazers in Monday's championship game of Class 4A Sectional 4.
Played at Elkhart Memorial, Warsaw defeated Central 7-0, winning its 11th sectional championship and first since 2006. Warsaw advanced to Saturday's LaPorte Regional, where it will play the winner of tonight's game between South Bend Riley and Penn at the South Bend Clay Sectional. Riley and Penn were scheduled to play Monday, but rain pushed the game back a day.The win was Warsaw's seventh in a row, pushing the Tigers to 18-11 on the season, looking a lot more like the team that began the season at 6-1 before going into a lull.
"We just put it all together," Warsaw senior pitcher Josh Witt said. "We started the season pretty solid, then we got caught in a bust. We didn't know what to do or how to get out of it. We just practiced hard, worked hard and eventually we started playing the baseball we know we can play."
Having already lost to Central on April 29, Warsaw had their ace on the mound in the championship and it paid off.
Pitching all seven innings, Witt gave up just one hit, which came in the second inning, and struck out eight.
"Josh Witt is a special ball player," Warsaw coach Mike Hepler said. "He was in total command today. It was fun to watch him pitch."
On top of his pitching dominance, Witt also helped his own cause by going 3 for 4 at the plate, hitting a two-run single in the second and leading off the fifth with a home run.
"I felt good," Witt said. "I came in today ready to play ball. I did it for these guys. I love these guys and I'm not ready for it to be over."
Those guys also helped Witt out by giving him a two-run lead in the bottom of the first.
"I love pitching with a lead," Witt said. "You have the swagger, you can say."
The Tigers were quick to jump on Central's freshman pitcher Cory Malcom, who hit Warsaw junior Joey Hickerson to start the game.
Following the hit batter, junior Darin Lursen legged out a bunt-single, putting Hickerson at third. Following a wild pitch, Hickerson scored and Lursen moved up to second before scoring on a single by junior Aaron Christenberry.
On the day, Warsaw's top four hitters of Hickerson, Lursen, Christenberry and Witt went 6 for 12 scoring six of the team's seven runs and stealing four bases, two by Hickerson.
"I was proud of our team," Warsaw coach Mike Hepler said. "Two weeks ago, we were .500 (at 11-11). We have just come together. I really credit my seniors. They just gave us inspiration. They realized they were better than what their record showed. We just needed to put it together, and we have."
The biggest change Hepler has seen is in the field, which has translated into wins.
"Pitching and defense has absolutely carried us," he said. "We've given up one earned run in those seven games. It's just one of those things. You can't explain it."
Along with the defense, the coach has also seen a change in mentality, which was personified following their 1-0 win over sectional-favorite Northridge in the first round. Instead of being overly excited about defeating a team they had lost to twice this season, Hepler noticed a calmness in his guys.
"Even with our win over Northridge, we kept it pretty low key," he said. "That was a huge win for us, but even on the bus ride back, it felt like there was still business to take care of. They're really maturing as a group."
The next order of business will be Riley or Penn, two teams Warsaw has already defeated this season. Warsaw downed Riley 19-2 and 3-1 in a doubleheader in South Bend on May 8, then defeated Penn 1-0 in a 9 a.m. game at Warsaw on May 22.
"We're happy today, but we still feel there's more this team can accomplish," Hepler said. "We want to be standing here on Saturday, doing the same thing, over in LaPorte. We have the team that can do it. We just have to keep working for it."
WARSAW 7, ELKHART CENTRAL 0
C 000 000 0 - 0 1 0
W 230 020 x - 7 10 1
Josh Witt (W, 6-3, 7IP, 0R, 1H, 8K, 1BB, 1HB) and James Miglin; Cory Malcolm (L, 1-2/3IP, 5R, 5ER, 3H, 1K, 1BB, 2HB), Donald Dobson (2, 4-1/3IP, 2R, 2ER, 7H, 1K, 2BB) and Erik Nickerson
