HOWARD — Mother Nature did not play favorites on Tuesday night, yet East Knox seemed to weather the wet better than Utica.
By the time the final out was made, the Bulldogs had slipped, slid and sloshed their way to a 4-2 district semifinal victory and the right to face Worthington Christian High School for the championship at 5 p.m. on Thursday at Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
The game was an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel until the bottom of the fourth inning when a combination of a walk, three singes and an error saw four Bulldogs cross the dish for a 4-0 lead.
In the top of the fifth inning the Redskins answered with two tallies slicing the lead in half. But that was the end of the scoring.
First-year head coach Gage Steinmetz said his team just tried to do what it has done all year.
“One of the big things we have been focusing on is controlling our emotions,” Steinmetz said.
One of the opportunities to control emotions came in the top of the seventh inning with one out and a runner on base, a potentially catastrophic miscue took place.
“A lot of young guys would have panicked,” Steinmetz said. “It was exciting, because you are going to make errors. In the game, things are going to happen, but just being under control and taking care of the baseball.”
The coach is particularly proud of the team because of their success in spite of their inexperience.
“We graduated a lot this year. We had one player return this year who started last year.,” Steinmetz said. “We put in a lot of work in the off-season. I am super proud of their growth and now we are going to the District Final.”