SOUTH WHITLEY - Walkoff home runs are always exciting, but when they invoke the mercy rule, they kind of lose their luster.
In Wawasee's 11-1 five inning victory over Columbia City in the second round of the Whitko Sectional Thursday, Wawasee junior José Rodriguez closed the game with a one-out dinger in the bottom of the fifth, advancing Wawasee on to Saturday's championship."You 10-run a team in a sectional, that's a bonus," Wawasee coach Jeff Phillips said after the win. "It's not something that's expected. You're gonna play way more tight games than ones like this."
Playing the other half of the sectional semifinal at NorthWood High School, the Lakeland Lakers scored two runs in the seventh inning to advance past the NorthWood Panthers 3-2. Lakeland and Wawasee will face off at noon Saturday in Whitko to decide the sectional champion.
"Sectional tournament games don't go like that very often," Phillips said about his team's semifinal win. "The key was good pitching and good defense - and will be as long as we're in the tournament."
Senior Chas Amadeo took the mound for the Warriors, pitching all five innings, giving up three hits, one of which came off the bat of junior Eric Trabert, clearing the center-field fence for a home run.
"He did exactly what he needed to do," Phillips said of Amadeo. "Threw a lot of strikes, kept the ball down - except for one. That's the only one he left up, and the guy did what he's supposed to do."
Trabert's home run knotted the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first, and the score stayed that way until the bottom of the third.
In the third, Keegan Beer stood at first with one until Rodriguez grounded the ball to second base. Following the force out at second, the Columbia City shortstop ate the ball, not figuring to get Rodriguez out at first. At that time, Eagles coach Troy Armstrong came out of the dugout, questioning whether or not Beer had impeded the shortstop's throw. After discussion, the play stood, leaving Rodriguez at first with two outs.
The force out was the last the Warriors would have for seven batters, as Wawasee went on to score six runs in a two-out rally, increasing the lead to 7-1.
"One of the things we've stressed is putting pressure on people," Phillips said. "If you can put pressure on from the first inning on, a lot of times in high school baseball, errors start to trickle around, balls start getting thrown around a little bit and you can score some runs. Maybe you didn't earn them, but they're always nice when they're put up on the board."
The inning included a two-RBI double from Jake Goldenberg, a two-RBI single from Jake Sommers and an RBI-single off the bat of Josh Dingeldein, throwing the doors open on the game.
Senior Dan Dingeldein finished the day 3 for 3 with an RBI and two runs, Josh Dingeldein went 2 for 3 with two runs and an RBI, while Phillip Fleagle and Sommers each had 2-for-3 days.
Of all of the hitters, Rodriguez had the most flash, going 3 for 4 with the game-ending home run, a double and three runs.
"He may have gotten more pitches, and you know he's not getting those in the (Northern Lakes Conference), because they all know who he is," Phillips said of Columbia City's unfamiliarity with Rodriguez, who didn't play in Wawasee's 8-4 loss to the Eagles earlier this month. "He's walked 22 times this season, which means he doesn't see a lot of pitches to hit."
