Woodhouse takes one for team, Westminster wins sectional
Freshman Will Woodhouse didn't just take one for the team. He took one for a sectional championship.
And it didn't hurt a bit.
The Westminster Christian outfielder was 0-for-3 when he stepped to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning of a 3-3 game against Lena-Winslow Saturday. Woodhouse was told to swing away on the first pitch, which he took for a ball from Panthers starting pitcher Seth Cory (7-3).
Woodhouse said he was then given the take sign on the next three pitches, all balls, the last of which grazed his uniform shirt to score Andrew Mason with the winning run in a 4-3 title-game victory for Class 1A sectional host Westminster Christian.
"That was big for Will. I was so happy he got that," winning pitcher Kevin Elder said. "I gave him a big hug after the game."
The baseball sectional championship is the second in Westminster Christian history. The Warriors (27-10) advance to face Ottawa Marquette in the Benedictine University supersectional in Lisle on Monday at 1 p.m. Marquette (31-6) defeated Streator Woodlawn 8-2 to win the Gardner-South Wilmington sectional title.
The Warriors twice rallied from behind.
Lena-Winslow (29-10) scored 2 runs in the top of the third inning against Warriors starting pitcher Ryan Perez on a bases-loaded walk by Cole Logemann and an infield single by Patrick Hatfield. Westminster tied the game in the fourth, courtesy of an RBI groundout by Mason and a run-scoring single by Ben Stevenson.
But the Panthers grabbed a 3-2 lead in the sixth against Elder (10-4), who pitched the final 4 innings. Elder hit No. 9 hitter Jared Kempel to open the sixth, and Kempel later scored on a safety squeeze bunt by Fritz Werhane.
The Warriors gained new life in the seventh, when Woodhouse reached first base with one out after a dropped third strike. Brandon Weingartner followed with a single and Perez smacked a two-hopper that got past the Panthers' first baseman, scoring Woodhouse with the tying run and putting runners at first and third with no outs.
Frank Oliver subsequently lined out to right field. Perez, who Moeller said was given the sign to steal second on the play, was doubled off first base before Weingartner could tag from third with the winning run.
"You'd like to change it all," Moeller said of the sequence. "It was a tough play. If (Oliver) hits it 10 feet either way, it lands and there's no question."
Elder gave up a two-out single in the eighth inning, but he notched his sixth strikeout to bring the Warriors to the plate for the game-winning at-bat by Woodhouse.
"It was a great high school baseball game," Lena-Winslow coach Tom Smargiassi said. "If somebody would have told me on March 1 when we started practice that we'd be playing for the sectional championship and have a 1-run lead going to the seventh with my best pitcher on the mound, I would have said 'I'll take it.'" If we make a couple of plays here or there... but that's baseball."
The Warriors will compete Monday for their second berth in the state finals in four seasons.
"It feels really good, especially with the seniors we have this year," Elder said. "They're really motivated and they want to do it this year."