Landin Bonnell woke up Wednesday, June 3, and questioned whether he should make his scheduled start for Novi Detroit Catholic Central against Northville in the Division 1 regional semifinal.
During practice the day before, he’d been rifling through his bag in the bullpen when a wild pitch struck him in the head. The 6-foot, 190-pound senior pitcher – a Kalamazoo College commit – cracked a tooth and had to immediately undergo an emergency dental procedure.
“I was questioning what would be the best thing for me to do for the team,” said Bonnell, sporting a bruise above his right eye. “I just knew that today, this was my start and I had been planning on it since Saturday. I just told my coach that I’d be good to go and ready to make the start.”
That he was: Bonnell struck out six over 93 pitches, lasting 5⅓ innings before Dominic Recchione relieved him, as the Shamrocks won, 5-3.
Bonnell allowed six hits, walked one and surrendered just one earned run, a solo homer by Northville’s Nate Van Dis, as the Shamrocks (25-12) advanced to their first regional final since 2021. They’ll face Mason on Saturday (10 a.m.) at Northville High School with a trophy and spot in the state quarterfinal on the line later that day.
“How about Landin Bonnell taking a ball to the head yesterday, getting emergency root canal surgery and coming in this morning to say he wanted the ball?” CC coach Ryan Rogowski said. “What a performance by that young man and for our team to finish. We talk a lot about our fifth, sixth and seventh innings being our championship innings, just like the third period in wrestling. We just want them to be mentally tough and ready to go, and they responded through adversity today, and we love it.”
Bonnell’s performance less than 24 hours after emergency surgery wasn’t the only adversity CC had to overcome.
Simply put, the Mustangs (12-18) wouldn’t go away, even after the Shamrocks built a 5-0 lead through four innings.
After Van Dis’ homer, Northville added two runs in the sixth. Justin Klepp drove in Tommy Maxwell on a fly ball to right field, and Liam Frist singled home Klepp one batter later.
Northville’s rally continued in the seventh despite two outs. Mack Hart reached first on a dropped third strike, and Vito Miksitz followed with a single.
With the tying run at the plate, right fielder Gavin Swinea made a tough catch while staring into the sun to end the game.
“We had a chance to put them away, but Northville kept grinding away, kept playing baseball,” Rogowski said. “But I’m proud of my guys for not giving up. A few years ago, we give this game away. But with 16 seniors, this wound up as something special.”
Two of those seniors came through after Bonnell headed to the dugout.
Recchione forced a lineout to second baseman Kyle Davis, who had already turned a double play earlier in the game, and then struck out Van Dis to escape a jam in the sixth.
Micky Laser closed out the seventh, striking out one batter while forcing a flyout and groundout.
While things got tricky during Northville’s rally, the Shamrocks relied on veteran catcher (and Saginaw Valley State signee) Cam Swearingen to guide them through each at-bat.
“The biggest thing for me is keeping them confident in themselves because, as you can tell from today, funny things can happen,” Swearingen said. “The sun is a factor and errors can happen just like that. I just have to keep my guys motivated and confident because we believe we’re the best team in the state. Our keyword there was to just finish.”
Swearingen doubled home Bennett Thompson for CC’s final run in the fourth. He also scored one of the Shamrocks’ three runs in the first.
Nick Garnick doubled in Dylan Fairchild. Luke Fairchild later singled, and an error allowed Garnick and Swearingen to score.
Thompson singled home Davis for what proved to be the winning run in the second.
Northville’s Liam Friest did most of the heavy lifting after relieving Max Samhat. He pitched six innings, struck out two, allowed five hits and surrendered just one earned run. He also doubled, while Tyler Baranick went 2-for-4 with a double.
Now CC’s attention turns to this weekend. The winner of its quarterfinal the past three seasons has gone on to win the state championship. It was Novi in 2023, followed by Northville in 2024 and Hartland last spring.
CC ended the KLAA West’s hold on championship trophies. But Rogowski had nothing but respect for his crosstown rivals.
“This wasn’t revenge or anything,” Rogowski said. “I talked with [coach] Ric Green, who I have a ton of respect for at Novi, and with Northville, which I have a ton of respect for. Those two teams have made us who we are by knocking us out the last couple of years, taking our dreams away. But they made us tougher and made us realize what we have to do to get where we want to go.”
Even if it means bouncing back a day after emergency surgery. The Shamrocks are ready to fight through adversity and finish what they started this postseason.
Brandon Folsom covers high school sports in metro Detroit for Hometown Life and the Detroit Free Press. Follow him on his new X.com account at @folsomwrites.
This article originally appeared on Hometownlife.com: Root canal surgery doesn’t slow Novi Detroit Catholic Central pitcher
Reporting by Brandon Folsom, Hometownlife.com / Hometownlife.com
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Brandon Folsom, Hometownlife.com | USA TODAY Network
