ST. LEON — Julian Greenwell hadn’t thrown a pitch in a game in about six weeks, but with the sectional title on the line Monday night, Columbus East coach Jon Gratz had no hesitation putting the senior on the mound.
Greenwell relieved Cole Gilley to begin the seventh inning and the Class 4A No. 3 Olympians leading 4A No. 7 Columbus North 5-3 in the East Central Sectional final. He proceeded to strike out the side to give the Olympians their second consecutive sectional title.
“I had thrown a few bullpens, but I hadn’t pitched in about a month-and-a-half, so I was a little nervous, especially with all this on the line,” Greenwell said. “I didn’t want to let down my team. But once I got out on the mound, I just felt like I hadn’t taken a break.”
The win puts East (22-4) in Saturday’s Evansville Regional, where it will play Jeffersonville at Bosse Field. The regional final will be Saturday night.
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Both starting pitchers helped themselves out early in Monday’s game. After Jonah Wichman singled and Greenwell walked, Gilley smacked a two-run double to right-center off the Bull Dogs’ Casper Clark in the bottom of the first that gave the Olympians a 2-0 lead.
“First pitch, I fouled it off, and I was like, ‘I’m going to time it up.’ The next pitch, he threw me a ball, and I was like, ‘All right.’ Then, he threw a slider for a ball, and I was like, ‘All right, he’s probably going to come back with a fastball and try to get a strike,’ and he did. I was sitting fastball.”
Clark then partially atoned for his mistake by belting a solo home run to left center leading off the second to cut the lead in half.
East then added to its lead in the third. Wichman led off with a single, and Dalton Back followed with a walk. After Greenwell and Gilley reached on fielder’s choices and Parker Harrison walked to load the bases, Nash Murphy delivered a three-run double to right center for a 5-1 lead.
“I’ve been working on hitting outside pitches all week,” Murphy said. “They put it in a spot where I could just hit it the other way, and it worked out.”
North (22-8) responded with a pair of runs in the fourth. Clark reached on an error, went to third on a one-out double to left by Blake Huffman and scored on a single by Reese Harmon. Huffman then scored when Devon Rodgers reached on a fielder’s choice to cut the lead to 5-3.
Adam Chapman led off the Bull Dogs’ sixth with a double. But Gilley came back to record a strikeout and two popups, and Greenwell struck out the side in the seventh.
“It’s awesome,” Wichman said. “Cole and Julian both pitched their butts off tonight. The boys brought the bats for sure, and it just felt great to help the team tonight.”
Greenwell, the Olympians, leading hitter, had been away from pitching because of an elbow injury.
“I know he hasn’t pitched in quite awhile,” Gratz said. “He’s thrown a couple (bullpens) and has looked really good. It was kind of a game-time decision. He said he was good to go, and he looked darned good out there.”
North’s Parker Maddox, who had combined with Jakob Meyer and Clark on a five-inning no-hitter in Friday’s 13-0 semifinal win against East Central, relieved Clark after Murphy’s double on Monday and allowed only two hits in 3 1/3 shutout innings.
“They have a heck of a pitching staff,” Gratz said. “We put the bat on the ball in some key situations. That’s a great (North) team over there.”
Both teams finished with six hits. Chapman went 2 for 3 for the Bull Dogs, and WIchman went 2 for 3 for East.
“They had some timely hits with guys on base,” North coach Ben McDaniel said. “We ended up falling behind in the count, and they were able to capitalize.”
