CONVERSE — Although Monroe Central baseball fell short of its first-ever regional title, the fight that the team showed in its final game was emblematic of the season that got it to that point.
In a matchup featuring two teams with a combined zero baseball regional titles, North Miami claimed its first with a 9-1 victory over Monroe Central in an IHSAA Class 1A regional championship at Oak Hill High School on Saturday, June 6.
The Golden Bears (11-16) scored one run on four hits and committed four errors while surrendering 10 hits to the Warriors (19-12).
“We barreled a lot of balls,” Monroe Central coach Sean Richardson said. “Just happened to be right at them. They found holes, we didn’t. Sometimes, it’s just how this game works.”
North Miami got on the board early with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. Monroe Central was one strike away from getting out of the inning unscathed, but the Warriors got timely RBI-doubles on consecutive at-bats from freshman Jension Carr and junior Logan Smith to go up 2-0.
After a scoreless second inning, North Miami began to add to its lead one inning at a time, scoring twice in the third and fourth frames. The Golden Bears scored their lone run in the fourth inning on a solo home run by junior Isaac Middleton, but the Warriors responded immediately with three runs in the top of the fifth to go up 9-1.
With the bases loaded, it felt like North Miami was going to put the game into run-rule territory and end the contest early, but Monroe Central kept battling to keep their season alive. Middleton took over on the mound and got the Golden Bears out of the jam, then the defense pieced together 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh to prevent the Warriors from run-ruling them.
“I just told them that it’s okay to be disappointed in what just happened,” Richardson said. “We worked really hard. We had a tough start to the season, but they trusted us and just kept grinding. We told them, ‘It’s going to come around, you’re going to get there,’ and I think it shows.
“This game, we could have shut down here and gotten blown out. We just decided to play seven innings, just kept fighting.”
Senior first baseman Levi Pence epitomized that fight in his final career at-bat. With Monroe Central needing eight runs in the bottom of the seventh to keep the game alive, Pence came to the plate and put a base hit through the Warriors’ infield.
It ultimately didn’t do much, as the Golden Bears’ next three batters were put out to end the game, but it was representative of a team that never quit no matter how hard things seemed.
“We started the year off rough, and we knew we were going to have to fight for it,” Pence said. “We all did our part, came together, and it finally all clicked. It was like a gear when it all came into place. We’re just thankful to be at this point we’re at. All heart, all fight, no giving up.”
After a 4-4 start to the season, the Golden Bears lost eight straight games at the end of April to fall to 4-12. The team rallied to win five of its last eight games ahead of the postseason, then rode that momentum to pull off a gritty 4-3 win over Blue River Valley in the sectional semifinals before a dominant 16-1 run-rule over Cambridge City Lincoln in the sectional championship.
It was Monroe Central’s first baseball sectional title since 2014, and they did it with a youthful lineup consisting mostly of sophomores. With only two starters graduating, most of the top hitters and all three primary arms returning, the Golden Bears are confident in their chances to return and potentially break through with that historic first regional title in the near future.
“Everybody’s on notice now. No more looking past us, right?” Richardson said. “We’ve got the program back where we want it. Numbers are coming up, youth is really good, the next two classes coming in are really good. Now, we build. Now, this is the expectation, so next year, the expectation will be the next one.”
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: Monroe Central baseball falls short in IHSAA regional championship game
Reporting by Cade Hampton, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Cade Hampton, Muncie Star Press | USA TODAY Network
