By Terry Boehmker
NKy Tribune sports reporter
Highlands pitcher Ethan Doty knew how much his teammates were counting on him when he took the mound for the 9th Region championship game against Ryle on Wednesday night at UC Health Stadium in Florence.
It was a pressure-packed situation for the sophomore right-hander, but he handled it well. He didn’t give up any runs in a 7-0 win and the Bluebirds claimed their first regional baseball championship since 1997.
“I knew I had to do as best as I could for my buddies because they’re seniors and I knew they could win this,” Doty said amid the team’s post-game celebration. “I wasn’t letting them leave here with tears of sadness, it was going to be tears of joy.”
Highlands lost in the regional championship game last year and in 2012. The Bluebirds were determined not to let that happen again Wednesday and lived up to their No. 1 ranking in the Northern Kentucky coaches poll with good pitching, timely hitting and errorless fielding.
Seven of the nine players in the Highlands batting order got hits in the championship game. Senior shortstop Jake Whitford, who went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI, was named most valuable player on the all-tournament team.
“I’ve been playing (for Highlands) since 7th grade so I’ve been there through the tough times,” Whitford said. “It’s good to be on a (championship) winning team finally.”
Highlands (31-6) will play 1st Region champion McCracken County (32-2) in the first round of the state tournament at 8:30 p.m. Monday at Whitaker Bank Ballpark in Lexington. McCracken County is riding a 17-game winning streak and has not lost to a Kentucky opponent this season, but that doesn’t concern Highlands coach Jeremy Baioni.
“Once you get down to the state tournament absolutely anything can happen,” Baioni said. “We’re going to go in with a positive attitude and some momentum and see if we can do some damage.”
In the regional final, Highlands took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning on run-scoring singles by senior third baseman Todd Ramey and senior designated hitter D.J. Mills. It looked like that would be enough runs to win the game with the way Doty was pitching for the Bluebirds. At that point, he had retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced and had six strikeouts.
The Bluebirds extended their lead to 7-0 in the fourth inning with the help of some errors by Ryle. With the bases loaded, Ryle senior shortstop Max Lonneman fielded a bouncing ball to the left of the mound and tried to get a force out at home plate. But his throw was wide, allowing one run to score, and then Ryle catcher Marshall Rich made an errant throw as another runner headed for the plate.
The next batter hit a ground ball to Lonnemann, but he bobbled it and another run scored to make it 5-0. One out later, Whitford blasted a pitch off the rightfield wall for a two-run double that gave the Bluebirds a 7-0 lead.
“That was a big hit,” Whitford said. “I saw a fastball up and in, so I turned on it and did what I could with it. I took it off the wall and that put my team in a good position to win the game.”
Doty continued to pitch well until the sixth inning when he gave up a single and two walks to load the bases. Baioni brought in junior Ricky Raisor from the bullpen to replace Doty, who received a standing ovation from Highlands fans as he walked to the dugout. Raisor got the final out in the sixth inning and Mitchell Jones set down all three Ryle batters he faced in the seventh to end the game.
“They’re really good,” Ryle coach Pat Roesel said of Highlands. “We didn’t help ourselves in the fourth (inning). If we’d gotten out of that inning without any errors it still would’ve been 2-0, but once it was 7-0 it was really tough to come back.”
Doty got the win to improve his record to 3-0. He gave up four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in 5 2/3 innings. The losing pitcher was Ryle sophomore Troy Coleman.
9TH REGION ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Highlands — Jake Whitford (MVP), Brady Murray, Mitchell Jones, Luke Hennigan.
Ryle — Nathan Roe, Jake Ziegelmeyer, Zach Kirschler.
NewCath — Brandon Gray, Grant Moeves.
Boone County — Jeff Purnell, Blake Roederscheimer.
Dixie Heights — Ethan Harrison.
St. Henry — Collin Johnson.
Beechwood — Brayden Combs.
CovCath — Adam Ruwe.