YORKTOWN — The 2026 Delaware County baseball tournament opened with a pair of dominant run-rule victories.
The county tournament began with a first-round doubleheader on Tuesday, May 12, at Yorktown High School’s Tiger Field. Wapahani defeated Cowan, 10-0, in six innings in the first game, while the hosts defeated Wes-Del, 12-0, in five innings in the second game. Both games were rematches of recent regular season contests — Cowan had beaten Wapahani, 2-1, on Thursday, April 30, while Yorktown had beaten Wes-Del, 16-2, on Thursday, May 7.
Wapahani and Yorktown will play one another in the second semifinal game on Friday, May 15, at 7 p.m. ET. Daleville and Delta will play in the first semifinal game scheduled for the same day at 5 p.m.
Wapahani shuts down Cowan in revenge game
The tournament’s opening game provided one of the best possible matchups. Cowan and Wapahani were both ranked by the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association in the most recent coaches poll, with the Blackhawks coming in at No. 7 in Class 1A and the Raiders sitting at No. 5 in Class 2A. Just 12 days ago, Cowan defeated Wapahani for the first time since 2012 to claim the top spot in the Mid-Eastern Conference.
Naturally, the Raiders came into the rematch hungry for revenge, and they did exactly what they needed to do to serve up everyone’s favorite cold dish.
“They beat us, so obviously there was a little revenge factor,” Wapahani coach Heath Dudley said. “Our guys wanted to come out and jump on them early and see what happened, and they did it.”
Wapahani got off to a hot start with three runs in the first inning. Senior outfielder Eli Andrews set a tone of aggressiveness early on by stealing third base and then scoring the first run after an error at third. Andrews came back in the second inning with a triple that drove in two more runs and scored from third shortly thereafter due to a balk. He would add another RBI via sacrifice fly in the third inning to finish 2-for-3 with three RBIs, a double and a triple.
The rest of the team fed off the energy Andrews brought. After the balk put the Raiders up six, senior catcher Quentine James stepped up and blasted a solo home run to make it 7-0 — his fifth homer of the season.
“In the previous game with them, we had scored early, but not a lot early, and they just hung around and beat us at the end,” Dudley said. “Anytime in baseball you can make it a one or two-inning game, it can get you anytime. I thought Eli with the little delayed steal action kind of set the tone for how aggressive we were going to be, and I think people feel off of that sort of energy.”
Senior pitcher Brandt Longfellow pitched the complete game shutout for Wapahani, striking out two while surrendering one hit and two walks.
“Obviously, losing to Cowan was not a good highlight the other week,” Longfellow said. “We took the fire to heart, and we came back. They beat us, and I needed to show them which team’s better and who deserves to win this one.”
Wapahani had some help in building its early lead as Cowan committed three errors in the first two innings. The early hiccups frustrated the Blackhawks, and when the Raiders turned those mistakes into a big advantage, the Blackhawks just couldn’t match their energy.
“We let their energy from the beginning dictate our mood,” Cowan coach Aaron Wells said. “Their pitcher was really good tonight. Longfellow’s one of the better arms around this area. They’re very well-coached, as always, and they had the tons of energy from the beginning, and we didn’t match it. We made uncharacteristic mental errors.”
Cowan’s next game will be at Daleville on Tuesday, May 19.
Yorktown’s Isaac Whitt, Luke Cahoe combine for no-hitter
As much as Cowan’s offense struggled against Wapahani, the Blackhawks did manage to record a hit. The same could not be said for Wes-Del in the second game, as Yorktown’s defense did not surrender a single hit and was a leadoff walk away from a perfect game.
Juniors Isaac Whitt and Luke Cahoe combined for the no-hitter. Whitt went the first three innings and struck out five, and Cahoe finished it off with three strikeouts in the last two innings.
“We just need to really assert our dominance and just carry it into the next game,” Cahoe said. “I’m confident with pitching like that, if we can just throw strikes in the zone, we can beat any team.”
Yorktown’s offense displayed some early firepower with nine runs in the second inning. Junior Aiden Witt logged an RBI-single to draw first blood, and Wes-Del walked in the next two runs with bases loaded walks. Junior Kaden Crumes and senior Ryan Burkholder then stretched the lead to 7-0 by hitting two-RBI doubles in consecutive at-bats. The order worked its way back around to Witt, and he hit another single to drive in two more runs.
Witt was the Tigers’ offensive spark in the game, finishing 3-for-3 with three RBIs.
“When he’s going for us, that connects everything for us,” Yorktown coach Austin Stout said. “He’s hit a little bit all over the place for our lineup, but being at the bottom of the order, for him to get on and let the guys at the top hit with runners on, that’s critical for us. He’s dynamic, he can move, he’s a threat on the bases, and he puts the ball in play. He’s a critical part, and it was huge to see that, for sure.”
It’s been an up-and-down season for Yorktown to this point. The Tigers have plenty of talent and play great defense, but they have yet to string together more than two consecutive wins throughout a challenging schedule. Starting the county tournament off with a no-hitter provided a confidence boost and some positive momentum for the Tigers.
“As long as we carry this momentum in the next couple of games, I think we can see ourselves with a lot of success,” Whitt said. “Hopefully, that carries on to sectionals, regionals, and from there on.”
Other than the nine-run second inning, Wes-Del’s defense did a relatively good job keeping the Tigers off the board. Warriors coach Ryan New was proud of the way his team competed despite falling into a significant early hole.
“Outside of that second inning, we saw a lot of good things defensively,” New said. “That’s one of those things where we could have rolled over right after that second inning and really gotten blown out. We’ve got to get better at the plate against pitching like that, but those are all things to work on. Tonight’s a good game for us leading into sectional. We want games like this, one’s where we’re challenged.”
Wes-Del’s next game will be at Cambridge City Lincoln on Thursday, May 14.
Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Wapahani, Yorktown pitch shutouts to open Delaware County baseball tournament
Reporting by Cade Hampton, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
