WHITE LAKE — Mike Weatherly has known Johnny Shields for a long time and had enough confidence in him to give him a spot on the Howell baseball roster.
Shields, a sophomore, has played his way into the starting lineup and was starting at third base on Wednesday.
In the fourth inning, Shields rewarded Weatherly’s confidence with the bases loaded and two outs when he singled in what turned out to be the winning runs as the Highlanders beat Lakeland, 4-2, for the Lakes Conference title at Lakeland High School.
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“I’ve coached Johnny all the way up,” Weatherly said, “and I told him, ‘You’ve never had a bigger hit than that one there.’ We needed it. We were struggling a bit in a one-run game.”
That, in turn, lifted the Highlanders (23-6) into Wednesday’s KLAA title game against Northville at Howell High School. Northville, the defending KLAA champs, beat Canton 4-1 on Monday.
“It feels great,” Shields said of winning the conference title. “We’ve been working hard all year and have come together as a team. It feels good to win.”
It is the first Lakes Conference title for the Highlanders, who never trailed in the game.
Spencer Ford allowed just four hits while striking out seven. He also drove in the first run of the game in the first inning with a single.
“He has several pitches and they were all working,” Weatherly said. “Kept them on their front foot out there. I wouldn’t say he was as sharp as he’s been all year, but he’s a gamer and he’ll fight you tooth and nail, and that’s what he did.”
But Ford’s Lakeland counterpart, Grant Smith, was nearly as effective.
He kept the Highlanders at bay for most of the afternoon, allowing only six hits.
Two of those walks came back to haunt Smith.
In the first inning, Bryan Rendell drew a one-out walk, went to second on a single by Caleb Balgaard, and scored on Ford’s single.
In the fourth, Nick Rauch, who walked three times, loaded the bases with a one-out walk. After Brandon Leon fouled out, Shields hit a sharp single to center field to score Sam Weatherly, who had singled, and Garrett Breault, who had entered the game as a courtesy runner after Howell catcher Kaeden Palmer had singled.
Lakeland had tied it in the third when Jake Spry scored on the front end of a double steal, then got to within a run when Hunter Roberts scored on a two-out single by Conner Snell.
Breault scored Howell’s final run when he entered the game as Powell’s courtesy running in the sixth. He went to second on a walk to Rauch, stole third and scored when the throw went into left field.
On this day, it was Howel’s No. 9 hitter, Shields, who was the offensive hero.
“Everyone just did their jobs,” Rauch said. “It’s what you need to do to get wins and (create) winning programs.”
The Highlanders will try to get an outdoor workout today, weather permitting, without having much time to think about Wednesday’s matchup.
That suits Rauch just fine.
“It’s a great thing,” he said of the short turnaround. “You never want to overthink baseball. It’s a simple sport. You go out and play.”
