Westminster Christian’s Elder throws no-hitter
Kevin Elder knew he had a chance for something special Friday.
The Westminster Christian junior accomplished something special, too. Elder threw a no-hitter and struck out 13 in a 2-0 victory over St. Edward in the Class 2A Westminster Christian regional championship game.
“I knew when I came in I had good stuff,” Elder said. “I looked up at the scoreboard in like the fourth inning and said, ‘I’m going to keep this going the whole game.’”
The regional title is the Warriors’ fourth in the last five seasons and first in Class 2A after winning the Class 1A state championship last season. Westminster (25-7) will play either Walther Lutheran or Immaculate Conception at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Lisle sectional semifinals at Benedictine University.
“We just have to keep proving all the guys wrong that say we can’t compete with the bigger schools,” said Westminster senior Andrew Mason, who was the only player in the game with two hits, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a walk. “We know we can. We just have to keep hitting.”
Elder (8-2) struck out the side in the first and had 7 strikeouts through three innings. He struck out one in each in the fourth and seventh and 2 each in the first fifth and sixth.
The third-seeded Green Wave (6-24) got the leadoff batter on in the fourth and fifth. Zach Brewster started the fourth by reaching on an error. After a sacrifice bunt and a popout, Brewster stole third. But Elder struck out Tight Koehring to end the threat. In the fifth, Elder walked Derek Porto, who left for a courtesy runner. Elder picked off Josh Meyer and struck out the next two batters to end the inning.
“He was hitting his spots. He looked exceptionally quick,” Green Wave coach Gene Belmonte said of Elder. “You just read the body language of a pitcher like him and when they’re in charge, they’re in charge.”
St. Edward starter Luke Duffy matched Elder for 3⅔ innings before giving up back-to-back hits that brought in a run. With two outs in the fourth, Warriors designated hitter Ray Adame singled. Will Woodhouse, the No. 8 hitter, followed with a double to left field, allowing Adame to score without a throw.
“They’ve been coming through a lot lately,” Westminster coach Jeff Moeller said of the bottom of the order. “The last couple of weeks they have come through, putting the ball in play and making stuff happen.”
Westminster added another two-out run in the sixth. Adame walked to lead off the inning and was replaced by Aaron Wiewel. After a flyout and a popout, Mason singled home Wiewel for a 2-0 lead.
Duffy allowed 6 hits and 2 earned runs in 6 innings. The junior right-hander walked four and struck out six.
“It was a battle,” Duffy said of the pitching matchup. “We knew we had to come out swinging. All year we’ve talked about having all three things — hitting, defense and pitching. Today, pitching and defense we’re definitely there. The bats were a little behind.”