By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
LAFAYETTE – For the second Saturday in a row, Westfield’s state tournament run took them to Loeb Stadium in Lafayette. The Shamrocks were two wins away from their first trip to the state finals since 2009 after winning its first sectional since 2011.
Things started off on the right foot for the Rocks, but one big inning from the Lake Central bats put a halt to Westfield’s dreams of advancing in the state tournament, knocking out the Shamrocks, 5-1 last Saturday.
Eastern Illinois signee Ty Anderson kept the Indians scoreless in the top of the first, stranding a pair of runners in scoring position.
Caden Lindsey walked to lead off the home half of the first. Lindsey would steal both second and third to get into scoring position. Brayden Hibler then hit a sacrifice fly to right field, sending Lindsey home for the early 1-0 lead.
The Rocks started to get a little momentum offensively in the third. Tyler Gentry led off with a single to left. Ethan Colling bunted into a fielder’s choice, forcing Gentry out at second. Lincoln Hoffman came in to courtesy run for Colling. Lindsey grounded a base hit to right, moving Hoffman over to third.
The inning took a twist and could’ve added another run. Drew Law flew out to right. On that play, Hoffman attempted to score. He would be called out from not tagging up at third base, resulting in a double play to end the inning.
“I’ll be honest. The call of us not tagging up in the third was a big one. We thought we were in the dugout with a 2-0 lead. We’re coming out of the dugout and we have that taken away,” Westfield head coach Ryan Bunnell stated.
“It took the wind out of their sails there, but we’ve got to be better and be able to respond that next inning. I thought that contributed to it and it’s unfortunate,” continued Bunnell.
The Indians struck in the fourth, putting the Shamrocks in a compromising position. Two doubles, a triple, two walks and a single provided a huge lift for Lake Central to take a commanding 4-1 lead.
“Ty still settled in after that and I thought he pitched really well. After that, we didn’t do a good job for an inning of controlling what we have control over. We let a lot of things that weren’t in our control affect us and it got us,” said Bunnell.
Westfield unfortunately was not able to get into a rhythm offensively once they got down three runs.
“That’s a lot of Griffin Tobias. It’s like when he smelled blood in the water and he settled in, he’s really, really good,” Bunnell complimenting Lake Central’s starting pitcher.
Tobias, the Indiana Hoosier commit, struck out five Rocks over the final three innings on the way to the complete game win, giving him eight K’s for the game, scattering six hits.
Lake Central added an insurance run in the top of the seventh to advance to the championship with the 5-1 win.
“After adversity hit, we made some mistakes late. We took ourselves out of an inning on a bad jump when we shouldn’t have ran,” stated Bunnell.
“Drozlek had a really good barrel, just right at the center fielder. If that hits a gap, we’re in a 4-3 game, because it would’ve scored two there. Baseball happens sometimes. This game is so great and it will rip your heart out at the same time. It ripped our heart out today, unfortunately,” said a disappointed Bunnell.
To get to the semi-state level, Westfield had to run through the gauntlet that is Sectional 8. The Rocks grabbed sectional wins over three ranked teams in Zionsville (6), Carmel (13) and Fishers (8). Their regional title last week was over No. 7 McCutcheon, 13-2.
“We faced a top-10 team in every (tournament) game. What other team in the state had to do that? I’m proud of our kids. If we can get through Sectional 8, we knew we had a shot. It’s a grind to have to go through that many really tough games. And it’s emotionally tough for high school kids,” Bunnell continued.
Westfield finishes at 21-11, graduating eight seniors, including starters Ty Anderson, Tyler Gentry, Brayden Hibler and Alex Rudolph and have plenty of talent returning in 2025.
“This whole senior group, what they did through that tough stretch in the middle of the season. They grabbed this team. A lot of teams would have folded and just packed it in, but they came to work every day. I can’t say enough about this senior class and what they’ve accomplished this year,” said Bunnell of his seniors.
The Westfield community showed up for their team in Lafayette last Saturday, tripling the attendance of Lake Central.
“I can’t thank our community enough for the support that they gave us. The way that they showed up today. God’s been really good to this program and this community coming out for us, we can’t say enough. We’re really blessed to be in such a great community with a great school with such great kids,” Bunnell said, thanking the Westfield community.
Homestead won the second semifinal game over Concord (20-11), 10-3. Lake Central won the northern semi-state championship over Homestead (20-11), 6-1. Next week’s Class 4A state championship will feature Lake Central (24-9) against No. 3 Mooresville (32-3) at Victory Field.