Hamilton County Reporter

After getting past one tough game on Saturday morning, the Fishers baseball
team found itself in another tough game Saturday night.

The evening game was the regional championship at Lafayette’s Loeb Stadium.
The Tigers were knotted at 5-5 with a pumped-up Fort Wayne Carroll team
through eight innings. After having the bases loaded with one out in the top of the
seventh and eighth but not scoring, Fishers was in that same situation in the top of the
ninth.

That time, the Tigers came through, to the tune of seven runs. That powered
Fishers to a 12-5 Class 4A Lafayette Jefferson regional championship victory, the first
ever regional crown for the program. The Tigers will now play Chesterton next Saturday
in the 4A north semi-state at Kokomo.

“It’s awesome,” said Fishers coach Matt
Cherry. “We’re not done yet, but excited for
them to keep fighting, keep battling and
finally coming through with the seven runs
in the ninth.”

While it was frustrating to leave the bases loaded so late, both times the Tigers
quickly regrouped on defense. Fishers set down the Chargers 1-2-3 in the bottom of
the seventh, forcing extra innings. The Tigers again took care of Carroll three-up,
three-down in the bottom of the eighth.

Fishers’ offense tried again in the ninth. With one out, Jack Roudebush drew a walk,
then Ben Burton was hit by a pitch. JJ Woolwine got on with a base hit, loading
the bases again. Could the Tigers finally get one in?

They did and then some. Craig Yoho came up after Woolwine, and he sent a
single into left field to score Jack Roudebush and Ben Burton. Next up was Grant
Richardson, who smashed a single into center field to get Woolwine and Yoho in
to score.

“That’s what this team’s done for the last two years,” said Cherry. “As long as we
don’t run out of time, they have fight in them and they’re going to find a way to get
it done. And we didn’t run out of time this time, we kept holding them defensively and
on the mound and finally broke through there in the ninth.”

After absorbing a strikeout, Fishers got another runner on when Matt Wolff got hit
by a pitch, sending Richardson to second. That brought up Alex Jamieson, and he
cracked a home run into left field. The 5-5 tie was now a 12-5 lead.

Carroll got a groundout for the third out, so all the Tigers had to do now was get three
outs on defense, which they did easily. Matt Wolff, who relieved Richardson in the
eighth inning, sandwiched two strikeouts in between a groundout to third baseman Kiel
Brenczewski.

Wolff is officially credited with the win, but Richardson deserves recognition as
well. He threw seven and a third innings, striking out 12 and allowing seven hits.
Richardson also went 4-for-6 at the plate; he, Yoho and Jamieson all batted in three
runs.

Fishers scored one run each in the first three innings. Richardson hit a homer into
center field in the first inning, Burton singled in Nick Lukac in the second, and
Brenczewski hit a sacrifice fly to score Yoho in the third.

Carroll took a 5-3 lead through the fifth inning, but the Tigers tied it up in the top
of the sixth on back-to-back sacrifice flies. Woolwine’s right field fly ball sent Tristan
Baker home and moved Burton to third base. Burton then scored after Yoho sent
another fly ball into right field.

In the semi-final, Fishers came back to beat Zionsville 6-5. The Eagles had the
Tigers down 4-1 midway through the third inning, but the Tigers rallied with four runs
in the bottom of the third.

Brenczewski got things started with a left field double that sent Woolwine and
Yoho home. Richardson scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 4-4. Jamieson then
hit a sacrifice fly to score Collin Shelton and put Fishers in the lead.

Richardson hit a fourth-inning double that scored Yoho and put the Tigers up 6-4.
Woolwine got Fishers on the board in the first inning with a solo home run; both he
and Yoho had two hits.

Luke Albright went five innings for the
win, striking out four. Wolff pitched the last
two innings and got the save.