Columbus North celebrates after beating Whiteland 7-2 in the sectional championship at East Central, Monday, May 29, 2023.
Paige Grider | For The Republic
ST. LEON — For the better part of five innings in Monday’s East Central Sectional final, Columbus North put the bat on the ball, but were hitting it right at Whiteland fielders.
In the sixth inning, that all changed.
Trailing 2-0, the Bull Dogs gained a lifeline when the Warriors opened the sixth with three consecutive errors. That was all North needed to get things going, and they rallied for a 7-2 victory for its second sectional title in the past three years.
“That’s what we kept saying — ‘We’re hitting the ball hard. We’re hitting the ball hard. Let’s just keep at it,’” North coach Mike Bodart said. “We knew the way the lineup was going to cycle through, we were going to start putting the ball in play. They made an error, and we just took advantage of it and put the foot on the pedal.”
The Bull Dogs (17-10) advance to play Class 4A No. 1 Center Grove in Saturday’s regional at a time and site to be determined.
North sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six runs in the pivotal sixth inning against Whiteland starter Drew Helton, who had thrown a no-hitter against Shelbyville in Wednesday’s opening round. Luke Harmon walked to lead off the inning, but it looked as though the Bull Dogs would go quietly again when Tyler Blythe lined out to third, and Harmon appeared to be doubled off first. But the throw went over the first baseman’s head, allowing Harmon to take second. Connor Hensley then hit a grounder to third, but again, the throw to first was wild, allowing Harmon to score and Hensley to go to second.
“It was just kind of getting the leadoff guy on,” Hensley said. “We’ve struggled with that sometimes this year, but at the end of the year, we’ve found that, and once we get the leadoff guy on, and we execute, we get runs, get momentum going and then we just keep on going.”
They certainly did. Zach McLean lined a single to left-center, scoring Hensley with the tying run.
“When McLean came up, Tyler turned to me and said, ‘He’s due for a hit,” Bodart said. “Sure enough, he came through with a hit, and that’s kind of when the floodgates started to flood.”
Blake Osbourne and Trenton McCain followed with back-to-back singles to center to load the bases, and pinch-runner Macario Mendez scored the go-ahead run after a wild pitch. Following a strikeout, Kyler Hashman walked to reload the bases.
No. 9 hitter Dillon James then came through with a two-run single to stretch the lead to 5-2, ending the afternoon for Helton.
“We kept hitting the ball,” James said. “It wasn’t that we weren’t hitting the ball. We were just hitting it right to them. So it was a matter of time until they fell, and the runs started scoring.”
The Bull Dogs added another run when Harmon singled against reliever Kayden Wilson to score Hashman.
“I think it was keeping our head in it and staying consistent,” Harmon said. “We were barreling balls in the beginning, and they just weren’t falling.”
North’s final run came in the seventh. Hensley and McLean walked, and Osbourne tried to sacrifice them to second and third, but the bunt was in a perfect place and Osbourne reached first. McCain then grounded into a fielder’s choice, with courtesy runner Sam Perry beating the throw to the plate.
“I knew as soon as I went up there with runners on first and second and no outs that I was going to be bunting,” Osbourne said. “It’s all about doing the job for the team, and I knew that if I did get get out, we were going to have runners on second and third and Trenton coming up behind me with a really good chance to drive in a couple more insurance runs.”
After that, all that was left was for Hensley to finish off a quality outing on the mound. He retired the Warriors (13-14) in order in the seventh, capping it with a strikeout of Blake Riddle to set off a Bull Dog celebration.
Hensley threw a five-hitter, allowing only unearned runs in the first and fifth innings.
“I just trusted what we had, and I let the offense control what they could control,” Hensley said. “At the end of the day, we got runs, and I got to pitch with the lead and my defense held my back. They’re the main reason I pitched the way I did, so credit to them.”
North finished with eight hits. Osbourne and James each went 2 for 4.
“All day, we had been hitting balls hard and having good approaches,” Osbourne said. “We knew that as the game went on, we’d find some holes, and in the sixth inning, it just all started to click for us.”
