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June 20, 2009
FORT WAYNE
SNIDER RALLIES PAST WESTFIELD FOR 4A STATE TITLE
Alexander
Mitchell’s sacrifice fly to right field scored Spencer Anderson capping an
amazing comeback by Fort Wayne Snider in a 3-2 eight inning win in the Class 4A
state championship game at Victory Field.
It was the
second baseball state championship in four seasons for unranked Snider (25-3)
whose 2006 state championship also came in eight innings.
Westfield,
with a 2-0 lead, seemingly had the game in hand and was on the cusp of its
first baseball state championship when things began to unravel.
Mitchell
led off the seventh inning with a single and then scored on Cody Johnson’s
double that bounced to the wall to make it 2-1. Nicholas Vachon
then entered as a pinch runner for Johnson. After a strike out and a sacrifice
fly to center that moved Vachon to third, Thomas Zumbaugh, with two strikes against him, reached out and
made enough contact with the ball to find the gap between the first and second
basemen scoring Vachon to knot the game at 2-2. Lukas
Richardson went down swinging to end the inning.
After
Westfield left a runner on base in the top of the eighth, Anderson doubled to
right center to lead off the Snider eighth and then moved to third on a wild
pitch. Westfield opted to load the bases with no outs by intentionally walking
the next two batters, but Mitchell’s sacrifice fly scored the game-winner.
Unranked
Westfield tallied 11 hits but could only generate the two runs in the second
inning. Andrew McCafferty tripled to center scoring
Taylor Luna from second and then Nick Crouse singled down the right field line
scoring McCafferty. The Shamrocks stranded 12 runners
on base.
For Snider
and 17th year coach Andy Owen, it was their fourth straight win by two or less
runs. Westfield and seventh year coach Ryan Bunnell
ended 24-6.
Drake everson named Mental Attitude Award winner
Drake
Everson of Fort Wayne Snider High School was recognized by members of the IHSAA
Executive Committee as this year’s recipient of the L.V. Phillips Mental
Attitude Award in Class 4A baseball.
The award
is presented annually to an outstanding senior participant who has demonstrated
excellence in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability.
The award is named in honor of the late L.V. Phillips, who served as the second
commissioner of the IHSAA from 1945-1962.
The starting
pitcher is a three time varsity letter winner in the sport of baseball and was
a member of the Panthers’ 2006 state championship team. He was named First Team All Summit Athletic
Conference (SAC) in 2008 and 2009, and helped take his team to an SAC
Championship in 2006, 2008, and 2009. He
also made the Prep Baseball Report’s Top 100.
Everson
graduated 34th out of 467 with an astounding 4.08 GPA, and scored a 1560 on his
SAT. He is a four-year Academic Letter winner
and the recipient of the President’s Award for Outstanding Educational
Excellence. Everson is undecided about
his college plans at this time.
He is the
son of Michael and Janet Everson of Fort Wayne.
Indiana
Farm Bureau Insurance, the corporate partner of the IHSAA, presented a $1,000
scholarship to Fort Wayne Snider High School in the name of Drake Everson.
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