Gallery by Greg Barnett
Gardner – PikeView’s dugout whiteboard had a list of list of six goals, the first being “Score First.”
The Panthers failed to do that but checked off the final and most important box – “Sectional Champs.”
Freshman Eli Hilling fanned 14 batters in 6.1 innings of work, guiding PikeView to a 6-3 win over Wyoming East in the Class AA Region 3 Section 1 championship Saturday in Gardner.
PikeView advances to the Class AA Region 3 final for the second consecutive year where it will face the Section 2 winner, either Independence or Nicholas County, in a best-of-three series to be played the week of May 20.
Hilling found himself in early trouble Saturday, loading the bases in the first and third innings and surrendering a run in each of those frames but his ability to paint the corners and keep the ball out of play aided him. His first 13 outs were recorded with strikeouts with an additional one coming after a dropped third strike.
“I was just living on that side corner and if they chased a curveball, then it would be nice to have a come back, maybe with another curveball or another fastball just depends on how consistent I was.”
East, which battled out of the losers bracket to reach the sectional title, had its opportunities early but the bottom of the lineup struggled to capitalize. In total the Warriors’ seven through nine hitters finished 0 for 9 at the plate with six strikeouts.
PikeView in contrast found the bulk of its production in the bottom of its order with six through nine scoring three runs and reaching base in 5 of 12 appearances.
“I go back to some of the better teams I have had,” PikeView head coach Josh Wyatt said. “We feel like 6-7-8-9 is another way to turn over the lineup to our 1-2-3 hitters and Austin (Bennett) has kind of been that nine-hole hitter that turns the lineup up over. They did a great job there. We ran into some base-running mistakes and it could have been a bigger inning but we just got in our own way a little bit too much today and fortunate enough to have an incredible pitching outing.”
East struck first when Zach Hunt reached on an error and later scored when Owen Biggs worked a bases-loaded walk. A strikeout from Hilling diffused the threat and East returned the favor with a miscue of its own when Landon Wyatt reached on an error to leadoff the bottom of the first, scoring on a fielder’s choice from Jared Vestal.
The bulk of the damage came in the bottom half of the second with a pair of leadoff walks haunting the Warriors.
Zach Rose and Hilling worked a pair of free passes with the former scoring on an RBI single from Christian Walters. Hilling’s courtesy runner, Bryson Bailey, found home later in the inning on an RBI groundout from Wyatt with Walters following shortly after on a passed ball, putting the hosts ahead 4-1.
East again produced more scoring opportunities in the third when Hunt struck out but reached on a dropped third strike. He followed by stealing second and scoring on a single by Ryan Mills. Bryson Hunt followed with a double to put a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs but Hilling’s pitches proved problematic for the rest of the order as he struck out three of the next four batters to avoid further damage.
“That’s been our MO all year,” East head coach Kevin Hedinger said. “We’re not just leaving them loaded, we’re not making contact – we’re (striking out) and you just can’t do that. You’ve got to put the ball in play.”
The Panthers added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings each courtesy of RBIs from Rose and Drew Damewood, extending their lead to 6-2. East meanwhile continued to struggle with Hilling even when he wasn’t striking them out. His last strikeout came at the start of the fifth and he induced five more outs that didn’t leave the infield afterwards.
“Just the way we were offensively, you know, and kudos to (Wyoming East pitcher Gaige) Cooper,” Wyatt said. “Yeah, I thought that kept us off balance. We were just swinging at first-pitch curveballs. Not disciplined at all. And so that puts pressure on a pitcher to try to, especially a freshman. He’s trying to handle everything on his own and he did a fantastic job. Entering the fifth and sixth innings I went to him and told him I was like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna pipe all of our pitches like we’re rolling right down the middle. We want contact, and we’re not going for strikeouts. And I think the sixth inning he had five pitches, and there’s a five-pitch inning that allowed him to come back out. I was hoping to record two outs there in the seventh before we turned it over. But Sammy Lyle is a senior and he wanted the ball in that moment. So it’s nice to have those options.”
East was able to push Lyle to his pitch limit and eventually score a run, the third for Hunt, on a stolen base and pair of wild pitches but the threat ended there, and the celebrations ensued.
Repeat sectional champions, the Panthers will go into the regional with a different outlook than they did a year ago. They split their season series with Independence and Nicholas County, giving a boost of confidence as they seek a return to the state tournament for the first time since 2016 when it fell in the title game to Bridgeport.
“It’s huge compared to last year,” Wyatt said. “You know, last year I think we took ourselves out of the equation a little bit and this team is hungry. This team is hungry for that next step and you know they want those games. A little different than the attitude we had going into last year.”
