Walther Lutheran 5, Lisle 4
No baseball team likes to envision its season ending.
But even in the wildest of dreams Lisle couldn't have seen this coming.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth inning of Wednesday's Class 2A Driscoll sectional semifinals in Addison, Walther Lutheran scored 2 runs on a dropped third strike to claim a stunning 5-4 lead over the Lions.
Broncos ace Steve Easter (6-3), who came on in relief in the sixth inning, stranded the tying run at second base in the top of the seventh to preserve the 5-4 win.
Walther Lutheran (21-13) will play today's winner between Driscoll and Holy Trinity in Saturday's sectional title game.
"There's no routine play in high school," Broncos coach Don Gillingham said of the 2-run play. "So we made our mistakes and they made their mistakes. And they made them last."
Behind sophomore ace Jon Surber (5-3), the Lions (15-14) played pretty clean for four innings. Surber allowed 3 hits while coaxing 15 groundball outs. Four of Walther Lutheran's 5 runs, however, were unearned.
Lisle took advantage of 3 Broncos errors, tying the game 1-1 on an outfield miscue in the second inning. Alec Blechschmidt's RBI single gave the Lions a 2-1 lead.
The margin grew to 3-1 in the third inning on Billy Potter's RBI fielder's choice. Jay Osika doubled home a fourth-inning run to put the Lions ahead 4-1.
Surber, meanwhile, rolled through the first four innings while throwing only 36 pitches.
"He threw a great baseball game, and we backed him up," said Lisle coach Pete Meyer. "I just feel horrible for these guys. I've got five seniors on the team, and I feel terrible for all of them."
The Broncos tallied 2 unearned runs in the fifth inning before taking the lead in the sixth.
Walther Lutheran loaded the bases with two outs in the pivotal frame, but a Surber strikeout pitch went to the backstop to allow the tying run to score. The throw to first hit the runner going down the line, which allowed the go-ahead run to score.
Easter, who is slated to pitch Saturday, took care of the rest after allowing a leadoff single to Will DeCraene. He went to second on a wild pitch, but Easter retired the next three batters to end it.
"Going into the seventh when I saw that we had the lead, I knew the game was over," Easter said. "I could just feel it."