There’s been some tough sectional draws.
In 2023 and 2024, the Bloomington South baseball team had to play powerhouse Center Grove in sectional play. The first finished second in the state, the other was a 27-game winner.
Before that, in 2018-19 came losses to Columbus East teams that included the state runner-up in ’19. And in 2021, it was a 27-win Columbus North team.
And tough luck.
The streak started in 2017 with a .500 Columbus North team that caught fire and made it all the way to the final four. COVID took away 2020. In 2022, there was another stunner, a 6-5 loss as a sub .500 Columbus East team made a run to semistate.
And then came the 2-1 loss to Bloomington North last year.
Ten years coming out empty handed.
Winning sectional titles is hard, so long-time head coach Phil Kluesner and his team were most grateful to come out on the right side of things for a change after slipping past an equally talented team from Bloomington North, 3-2, in eight innings on Monday.
“Obviously, basketball, coming up short three years in a row,” said senior left fielder Max Surdam, a starting guard this winter for JR Holmes. “So with baseball, it means so much to me. And everybody else. We have, what, 13 seniors?
“Some football guys have won it, but nobody’s ever done it in baseball. It hasn’t been done in a while, so I think it just means so much to everyone.”
It was Surdam’s ability to somehow get down a bunt on a suicide squeeze that gave South the title when speedy Reid Walker flashed home, crossing the plate before the ball could even be tossed to first base.
Connor Couch finished it off, and South celebrated.
“It means the world,” said Walker, who also helped turn a big double play to end the fourth, going away from the bag and still getting enough on the throw to second. “Winning sectional after 10 years, we’ve got a great group of guys; we’re all close and we all believe in each other to make it happen.”
Rematch with Columbus North
Up next is a trip down to Jennings County to take on Columbus North (19-11) at 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 6, for a regional title. A win would be the Panthers’ first since 2015.
The two played at Columbus on May 13 with a share of the Conference Indiana title on the line, so the No. 10 Panthers pitched ace Xavier Hemingway. South was outhit 7-5, but a three-run fifth did the trick after the Bull Dogs went up 2-0 early.
Surdam had two hits, and Walker had four of the Panthers’ nine stolen bases. Bryson Satterfield and Daiju Iwaya combined to throw six shutout innings for CN. The Bull Dogs have won six straight since then and 10 of their last 12, beating Zionsville and Westfield. The other loss was to Andrean.
Jayden Adorno (5-2, 2.45 ERA, 50 strikeouts, 24 walks) is their ace, and he pitched in the 9-1 semifinal sectional win over No. 8 Franklin. Franko Ortega (3-3) took care of East Central (21-7) in the final, tossing a shutout with five strikeouts in a 3-0 win.
The winner advances to the four-team semistate and will play the winner between Avon (17-15-1) and North Central (20-6) in the semifinals on June 13, likely at Lawrence Central.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: 10-year wait for sectional title rough one for Bloomington South baseball
Reporting by Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times | USA TODAY Network
