Wright came set on the mound and fired a pitch to Louie Santangelo, who lasered the ball to Noah Bramble at shortstop where he caught and ran it over to second base for the inning-ending unassisted double play.
“We had confidence,” Lakota West senior third baseman Landon Holt said. “Pitching was dominant today. We had confidence in the guys behind us. We just trusted them, and to come out with that double play, that was huge. We knew we got it after that, just roll through that seventh inning and get it done.”
Holt laid down the go-ahead sacrifice bunt for Lakota West (23-7, 14-4 Greater Miami Conference) in the first inning and Keegan Campbell got the final two outs of the three-hit shutout of Olentangy Liberty on Tuesday to advance and play Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller in the regional final on Wednesday.
“At this point in the tournament, it’s good baseball, and we found a way to push one across, and that’s a good baseball club over there,” Lakota West coach Brad Gschwind said. “It’s good pitching, good offense. They do a great job, very fundamentally sound. We were able to push one across in the first and our pitchers, the three of them, did an outstanding job tonight.”
Lakota West had a chance to add onto its lead when it, too, loaded the bases in the sixth inning.
Singles by Braydon Johnson and Holt snapped Olentangy Liberty left-handed starter Drew Hauenstein’s streak of 10-straight outs then Adrian Smith drew a four-pitch walk, but Patriots third baseman Knox Brenning threw home on a groundout and Dylan Dielman forced a strikeout to end the rally.
“It’s like a roller coaster, like the first inning where we get that early first run, the only run of the game — I feel like that was momentum,” Wilburn said. “Then they obviously get bases loaded, one out, so that was a momentum builder for them, and then us getting that double play was also a momentum builder for us, so I feel like it’s just who can control the emotions their best and live in the moment.”
Lakota West has held win streaks of four games or more three times this season, including a seven-game run to start the campaign. Gschwind and the Firebirds finished second in the GMC, won 20 games for the first time since 2017 — sixth overall — and checked in at No. 10 in the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association Division I state poll in April.
The Firebirds also split rival series with defending Division I state champion Mason in April and Lakota East in May, then beat Middletown and Princeton last week to get to the regional round. They’ve outscored their three postseason opponents 30-1.
“This group has found ways to kind of win in different ways throughout the year,” Gschwind said. “I think that goes a lot in being a senior group and finding different ways to win whether it’s a bunt, whether it’s pitching, whether it’s swinging it well, and you got to have different ways to win throughout the year to still play into June.”
Holt said Lakota West “never got shaken” after Olentangy Liberty’s late rally and Wilburn said the Firebirds are “locked in” offensively.
That combination has Lakota West one win away from a trip to the state semifinal.
“We’ve prepared all season for this,” Holt said. “This was our goal since the beginning of the season, so big game tomorrow. We know we have the parents and the fans backing us up. Pitching like that tomorrow, again, we just got to do the job of the play and get our job done tomorrow.”
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