Baseball: Prospect holds off Stevenson for regional crown
Kyle Odeshoo and Prospect stayed with it.
Odeshoo kept the tag on a Stevenson runner to complete a double-play to end the game as the Knights eliminated Stevenson 3-2 Monday in Mount Prospect to win a Class 4A regional baseball title.
The third-seeded Knights (20-7-1) will play at second-seeded Glenbrook North Wednesday in the sectional semifinals at 4:30 p.m.
"I saw the ball go out deep," said Odeshoo, who plays first base. "We made a great catch in center field and threw the ball in. I was already looking at the bag to make sure I could get anything off him. The back foot slid off the bag and I put down the tag."
With one out in the top of the seventh Prospect led 3-2 when Stevenson's Benji Ries singled sharply to right. Ries was then replaced by a pinch-runner. Joey Little then belted a long drive to deep center where Jake Bush made a superb catch right in front on the 375-foot sign.
"I knew they would be running because they were down," Bush said. "I saw him at second just figured take a shot, keep it low, take a shot and if I don't get it, keep him at first. It doesn't hurt."
Bush immediately fired the ball and it landed on the dirt of the infield and bounced twice before Odeshoo gloved it. The runner couldn't quite stop in time and overran the base and Odeshoo applied the tag, ending the game on a strange double play.
"Jake is an aggressive kid and he shags everything down," Prospect coach Ross Giusti said. "It just goes to show you that every play is still alive."
Giusti's team might not have had to take such a deep breath had the Knights been able to convert on the basepaths. They left 11 runners on base including stranding 8 in scoring position. They also had a runner thrown out at home and another caught stealing.
"We just have to keep moving forward," Giusti said. "We left an army on the bases. All year we have been coming through. We just couldn't break it open."
The Knights got an outstanding performance from Mitch Gates, who kept the door closed on Stevenson (15-13-1) for most of the game. Gates allowed just 3 hits, including a solo homer from Reis in the fifth that cut the Prospect lead at the time to 2-1.
"I had everything working today," Gates said. "The curveball was working pretty well and I had a couple battles that I won that gave us some energy."
Prospect took a 1-0 lead in the third. Bush led off with a triple to right-center and then scored on Brady Jensen's double.
The Knights added another run in the fourth as Will Sommers, who singled, scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch to make it 2-0. Reis' homer cut the margin to 2-1 in the top of the fifth, but the Knights answered on Sommer's RBI single, scoring Odeshoo who was hit by a pitch.
Gates walked Michael Belbot and then was replaced on the bump in the sixth for the Knights. A single by Stevenson's Colin Schmitke and a wild pitch scored Belbot cutting the margin to 3-2.
With runners on first and second thanks to a hit batter, Giusti went to Cole Conner. He promptly made a terrific play on a sacrifice bunt and then struck the final batter to end the inning.
"It was not the way we wanted it to end," Stevenson coach Nick Skala said. "It's tough. But our seniors, they have been a part of a lot of crazy things the last two years."