The Northern Patriots entered the seventh inning of Friday’s 3A South regional championship game tied 1-1 with the defending 3A state champion La Plata Warriors.
However, Northern’s Joe Sharkey singled in the go-ahead run to put the Patriots up 2-1.
“When I got up [to the plate] I felt this boost of confidence,” Sharkey admitted. ” … I felt that anything he was throwing at me, if it was a strike, I was going to hit it.”
Northern was able to score two additional runs in the inning thanks to the bat of Bret Blevins.
Northern and Coach Marshal Kawecki now advance to the state tournament semifinal, a game scheduled for Tuesday, May 19, at Joe Cannon Stadium in Anne Arundel County.
“It’s awesome,” Kawecki said of the state tournament bid, the second of his coaching career. ” … I think the kids, more than anything else, are starting to see that golden ring hanging up there.
“We are hitting the ball much better. We are not making many errors, but I think our pitching is just really coming around.”
Blevins, from the mound, also had a complete-game performance in the victory only giving up one run to the defending state champions.
“It feels great,” Blevins said of being crowned regional champions. “This is something I have waited for my whole high-school career.”
On his approach from the mound, Blevins added: “I knew if I just threw the ball over the plate and let them get the hit –my defense has been playing really strong throughout the entire playoffs — they were going to make the plays for me.”
“Bret has done a phenomenal job,” Kawecki added. “He came in against Huntingtown in relief and shut them down, and he did a great job here today.”
La Plata, with the loss, ends its first season ever as defending state champions much to the dismay of head coach Dan DeVitis.
“The thing that cost us the game today was the lack of clutch hitting, that’s what did it,” DeVitis said. “We stranded eight runners, and had runners on second and third a few times and couldn’t get them in.
“Northern had guys on base, they got them in, we had guys on base and we didn’t.”
La Plata’s lone run of the contest came on a Seth Donnelly RBI in the third inning.
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