Madonna’s Reed Wilharm throws a pitch during the Blue Dons’ OVAC 1A championship matchup against Cameron on Monday at the Edison Unified Sports Complex. Wilharm was named the game’s MVP and fired a no-hitter on the mound.
RICHMOND – It’s not over ’til it’s over.
The Madonna baseball team proved that old adage to be true on Monday in the OVAC Class A championship game.
Going to the bottom of the seventh without a hit, the Dons were down to their last out against rival Cameron and in a two-run hole when Jacob Lazear came up and sent a two-out, two-run triple to the fence in right center to tie the game, then Koleton Grishkevich came up next and walked-it-off with an RBI single to plate Lazear and give the Blue Dons a thrilling 3-2 victory and stun the Dragons.
“These guys handle adversity very well and they battle,” Madonna head coach TJ Miller said. “I can’t say enough about these guys. We know Cameron is always going to give us their best, we handled the adversity and these guys stayed patient against a really good pitcher and were able to come through at the end. They never lost hope.
“Koleton is a phenomenal athlete, if I could pick who I would want up in that situation he would definitely be one of them. He did a great job. We talked (before the at bat) and I told him to hunt fastballs, hunt strikes, we just needed and single and he did a great job and come through.”
photo by: Andrew Grimm
Cameron’s Wes Starcher connects with a pitch during the Dragons’ OVAC 1A championship matchup against Madonna on Monday at the Edison Unified Sports Complex.
The game was an epic dual on the mound.
The Dons’ starter, Reed Wilharm, fired a no-hitter and was awarded game MVP, while Cameron starter Kason Angel had held Madonna’s powerful lineup out of the hit column through six innings, but was up against the pitch count limit going to the final inning.
Kaiden Wells leadoff single in the seventh broke up the no-hitter, and Angel was forced to depart with one out after striking out 11 batters, though he walked six and hit one which ran up his pitch count.
Soier Reed came on and, after walking a batter, fired a strikeout to put the Dragons (14-8) one out away, but the Blue Dons (16-2) had other plans.
“Kason Angel threw a great game for them, he’s a great kid” Miller said. “We knew going to the last inning he was at 105 so we wanted to be patient at the plate and wait for strikes. They had to change and we got some timely hits. These guys were hyped up and got it done.”
Cameron’s Kason Angel throws a pitch during the Dragons’ OVAC 1A championship matchup against Madonna on Monday at the Edison Unified Sports Complex.
Wilharm struck out 10 batters, walked four, and gave up just one earned run. Cameron scored on a two-out error in the first inning and went ahead 2-0 on a Hunter Evans sac bunt in the fourth. Over the final three innings, though, Wilharm shut things down, retiring the last nine-straight batters he faced, working a 1-2-3 sixth and striking out the side in the seventh to set up the rally.
“I can’t speak highly enough Reed,” Miller said. “He’s a great pitcher, he’s one of our top dogs. He wanted the ball today and was hungry. We had a little bit of adversity and he battled through. He pitched a phenomenal game and put us in a great position to have a chance to win this game.
“He didn’t want to come out. Usually I don’t like to go three times through a lineup, but he was a man on a mission and we let it ride and he did a phenomenal job. He got better as the game went and that’s Reed, he’s a bulldog.”
It is the second-straight OVAC title for the Blue Dons and their fifth in the last eight years. The Blue Dons and Dragons have combined to win the last seven Class A titles
The teams, who are ranked No. 1 and No. 5 in West Virginia Class A by MetroNews, will likely meet again, potentially twice, in the Region 1 tournament.
“We thought we had them,” Cameron coach Adam Angel said. “They got us when they had to, so good for them. We will see them again, I told the kids we know what they got, we know we’re right there with them and we’ll try to get them back in the tournament and make this sting a little bit less.”
UP NEXT
Cameron: Hosts Clay-Battelle today.
Madonna: Hosts Weir High in the annual city championship game on Wednesday.