Columbus East baseball players and coaches get ready for the first pitch in Monday’s game against Shelbyville in the Shelbyville Sectional.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
SHELBYVILLE — Monday afternoon’s Shelbyville Sectional semifinal baseball game came down to clutch hitting.
The host Golden Bears had it. Columbus East did not.
That was the difference in Shelbyville’s 5-0 victory in a game that was pushed back four hours to allow its field to dry from Sunday night’s rainstorm.
The Olympians (9-18) outhit the Golden Bears 9-7, but went 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.
“That’s how it goes sometimes,” East coach Jon Gratz said. “They had the two-out hits, and we didn’t. We struck out looking a lot with guys on, and that ended up being the difference.”
Golden Bears junior Gavyn Fisher allowed baserunners in every inning, but pitched his way out of multiple jams. After Chase Niese and Jackson Watkins led off the third with back-to-back singles, Fisher came up with two strikeouts and a groundout. Then in the fourth, AJ Tindell and Evan Huckaby led off with back-to-back singles, but Fisher recorded a strikeout and a popup before Tindell was caught trying to steal third.
Fisher finished with 12 strikeouts.
“I take my hat off to their arm,” Gratz said. “The Fisher kid is a really good pitcher. I heard really good things about him from other coaches, and he lived up to the billing today.”
The Olympians were slated to see Shelbyville sophomore ace Aiden Smith on Friday night, but their game was rained out Friday and rescheduled for noon Monday. Monday’s game then was pushed back to 4 p.m., and Fisher drew the semifinal assignment, with Smith getting the call for Monday night’s final against Franklin.
“We were preparing for Smith, and then we were also preparing for Fisher, too, because we really didn’t know,” Gratz said. “They’ve thrown each of them a similar amount of innings, so I can’t say I’m surprised. I wasn’t too shocked to see him.”
Smith did his damage with the bat, hitting a solo home run off sophomore Stone Myers in the third that gave the Golden Bears (16-8) a 2-0 lead. Shelbyville, which had scored in the first, added a single run in the fourth and two in the fifth before East freshman JD Rotert came on and pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings.
Watkins, Tindell and Huckaby all went 2 for 3 for the Olympians.
East loses seven seniors to graduation, including four starters.
“I can’t say enough about our seniors and how much they did for our culture and setting an example all offseason, getting us back on track,” Gratz said. “The amount we improved from Game 1 to now, that’s all due to them and their leadership and coming to practice every day and leading the way and teaching guys how to do things the right way. I can’t think our seniors enough for all of that.”East wi
