By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
This Saturday’s Class 4A northern semi-state, hosted by South Bend Riley, takes place at Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium, the home of the South Bend Cubs.
The first game features the Valparaiso Vikings (23-5) against the Fort Wayne Snider Panthers (24-6) at 11 a.m. The Westfield Shamrocks face the Goshen RedHawks (12-13) at 2 p.m. The championship will be at 7 p.m.
No. 11 Westfield (22-9) is back in the Elite 8 for the second consecutive season. The Shamrocks pulled off the tall task of winning Sectional 8, deemed as the toughest sectional in the state of Indiana.
Winning its seventh sectional crown in program history and fifth under head coach Ryan Bunnell on June 2, the ‘Rocks captured their fourth regional title at Lafayette’s Loeb Stadium last Saturday over Harrison (West Lafayette), 7-6.
Beck Jordan leads the ‘Rocks with a .345 average, 29 hits, 27 RBIs and 10 doubles. Ian Nelson has 20 RBIs and 26 hits, while Drew Law and Lincoln Hoffman both have 24.
Luke Collinsworth has 65 strikeouts in 40.2 innings with a 2.75 earned-run average.
Goshen (12-13) finds themselves in the semi-state for the first time since 1981, in the single-class era. The RedHawks last won a sectional in 2008 prior to this season. They won the Northridge sectional with a semifinal over the host Raiders and upset the top-ranked Penn Kingsmen in the championship, 4-2.
No. 8 Valparaiso (23-5) won its 22nd sectional and has now won its first-ever regional, making this their first semi-state appearance. The Vikings hosted sectional and beat Portage, then took out No. 3 Crown Point for the regional crown.
No. 13 Fort Wayne Snider (24-6) won its 11th sectional over Fort Wayne Northrop in the Carroll (Fort Wayne) sectional. The Panthers beat No. 6 Homestead (9-1) in the regional last Saturday. Snider edged Cathedral 3-2 (8 innings) in 2006 for the 4A state title and Westfield by the same 3-2 score for its second state crown in 2009.
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