Hartland repeats as baseball regional champs

NOVI — As the Hartland baseball team celebrated its second consecutive regional title, Nathan Lohmeier jumped onto the pile of happy, sweaty teammates and shed a few tears.

Happiness, satisfaction, accomplishment — all could accurately describe things for the Hartland left-hander, who suffered a serious knee injury in last year’s regional final and watched his teammates win a title while he was on crutches.

“There were a lot of bad memories to go with last year,” Lohmeier said after pitching the Eagles to a 3-1 victory over Detroit Catholic Central, who was last year’s opponent in the regional final. “I just said to the guys, ‘This is the happiest moment of my life.’

“For 12 months driving home after every workout, from physical therapy, all I thought about was coming back here and beating CC. Dogpiling at the end was what I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to walk and go from here and keep battling. I was happy. I was crying. It was great.”

Lohmeier had surgery to repair two ligaments in his left knee after colliding with a CC player last year. He was lucky enough to have the opportunity to get a Robotic Assisted Knee Surgery, which made the recovery process a lot easier.

On Saturday, the Shamrocks couldn’t touch him, at the plate or on the bases.

Lohmeier held Catholic Central to just two hits, both in the fourth, when the Shamrocks scored their only run. He struck out eight and faced one batter over the minimum.

Shamrocks starter Grant Hartwig matched Lohmeier for most of the game, but the Eagles broke through in the bottom of the fourth.

Alex Vydick and Jack Slavin singled and Hunter DeLanoy walked to load the bases.

John Baker hit a sacrifice fly to deep left to score Vydick and move both runners up a base.

Max Hendricks then drove him what turned out to be the winning runs with a double.

“It was good to get some runs,” Lohmeier said. “The defense was flying behind me. Alex made a couple of great plays (at shortstop). Once we got those runs, I knew this was over.”

The Eagles got there with an 11-0 win over Livonia Stevenson in the opener. Vydick started the game with a single on a 1-0 count, Slavin was hit by a pitch and DeLanoy had a plan when he came to the plate.

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“It was a fastball right down the middle,” he said. “I was looking for it, and I hit it pretty good.”

DeLanoy’s three-run homer made it four pitches and three runs for the Eagles, who sent 12 batters to the plate and finished off an eight-run outburst when Slavin cleared the bases with a double.

It was more than enough for Baker.

“We came out hitting, and it was nice to see,” Baker said. “It’s so much easier for a pitcher (getting an 8-run lead) and it kept going from there.”

Baker allowed just three hits and a rare walk in 4 2/3 innings as the Eagles won 11-0.

“The pitchers were outstanding today,” said Hartland catcher Cade Martin, looking none the worse for wear despite catching both games in temperatures that neared 90 degrees while playing on artificial turf.

“They threw strikes,” he added, “and the defense was outstanding behind them. We had one error the whole day, which is fantastic. Our defense is the best in the state, hands down. We stop everything, we throw everyone out. It’s perfect.”

The Eagles will take on Rochester, which beat Rochester Adams 12-9 to win its regional, at 4 p.m. Tuesday in a quarterfinal at Wayne State University.

“It feel nice,” Baker said. “Hope we make a run like last year.”

After the trophies were presented and the photos taken, Morrison was preparing to pursue his other sports love, NASCAR racing, leaving from the field to head to Michigan International Speedway for the race there this weekend.

But he showed some rare emotion when talking about Lohmeier and his comeback.

“I’m so proud of Nathan to come back to the same place where he had the injury and do all that rehab,” he said. “I’m proud of him.”

Division 1 at Holt

HOLT — Howell got to the regional final before falling to Portage Northern, 6-3.

The Highlanders (33-9)  took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second, but Northern came back with a run in the bottom of the inning and five more in the third.

Howell got to the final by beating the host Rams 6-4. Caleb Balgaard drove in two runs with a double in the fifth, which saw Howell take a 3-2 lead. The Highlanders scored three more times in the sixth.

Sam Weatherly struck out 10 for the Highlanders.

Division 2 at Fowlerville

FOWLERVILLE — The Gladiators’ season came to an end in the semifinals with a 6-1 loss to Portland.

Fowlerville (19-12) was held to four hits. Alex Montrose drove in Fowlerville’s only run with a double in the first inning.

SOFTBALL

Division 1 at Holt

HOLT — Howell took a 4-2 lead after two innings of the championship game, but Mattawan scored six in the third and made it stand up for the regional title victory.

Jordan Humitz hit a three-run homer in the first for Howell after going 4-for-4 with six RBIs as the Highlanders (30-11) routed host Holt 17-2 in the semifinal.

Veronica Pezzoni and Emma Johnson had three hits apiece for Howell in the win over Holt.

Division 2 at Fowlerville

FOWLERVILLE  — The Gladiators lost to Alma in the semifinals 10-0. Alma went on to win its first regional title in seven years.

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