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MSU-BOUND: Norway Knights Going To Final Four
 Click the AUDIO button to hear Carter Cazzola's comments. HARBOR SPRINGS---The Norway High School baseball team had its biggest day in program history on Saturday in Harbor Springs, winning a regional championship, and then dominating the quarterfinal game to advance to the state finals at Michigan State University. The Knights beat the Rudyard Bulldogs, 3-2, to win the regional championship, and then got off to a great start with seven early runs in the quarterfinal and coasted to a 7-1 win over Onaway. The results send Norway (28-3-1) to the state semifinals for the first time in the 15-year history of the program. "The feeling of being the first Norway team to go to MSU and playing ball there feels good because we're making history for Norway," Norway's Carter Cazzola said. "I feel like it took a lot of hard work and dedication, and a lot of practices, and a lot of our coaches pushing us."
“The feeling is amazing after two wins,” the Knights Landon Amundson said. “I'm looking forward to the MSU experience and showing everyone who Norway is.” “We are playing our best ball right now,” the Knights A.J. Gallino added. “I really enjoyed it.” In the regional final against Rudyard, Owen Baij got the start on the mound and he scattered five hits over 4 1/3 innings of work. Rudyard was able to steal a run in the first inning against Baij as Cameron Peterson came home in a delayed-steal situation. The Knights got the out at second base, but Bulldogs Manager Billy Mitchell had that important 1-0 lead. The Knights, however, scored twice in the bottom of the first inning. Alex Ortman's RBI single tied the game, and then Cole Baij's fly ball to center field was misplayed. The error brought Owen Baij home, and Norway had a 2-1 lead. Owen Baij struck out all three batters he faced in the top of the second inning, but he walked the first two men he saw in the third inning. Baij, however, was able to get the next three outs, keeping Norway in front by a run. Baij and Rudyard starting pitcher Aiden Bickel went back-and-forth throughout the game, both keeping their teams in a tight one-run game. The Bulldogs tied it in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI single by Landen Mayer, after an infield error had kept the inning going. After Owen Baij walked Bickel, Norway Manager Tony Adams brought in Cole Baij to get out of trouble. It worked. Baij got Kyle Postma to hit a ground ball to second baseman Ian Popp, who had made the error earlier in the inning. Popp made no mistake this time as he threw to first base for the out, and Owen Baij's throw to the plate cut down Peterson trying to score. Then in the bottom of the sixth inning, Cole Baij led off with a single. He was bunted to second, and with two outs, Cazolla came through with an RBI single to left to give Norway a 3-2 lead. "“The at-bat was nerve racking,” Cazzola said. “There was a lot of pressure on me. I haven't been hitting very well. But this at bat, I was more confident in myself than in the ones prior. I saw the fastball and I hit it.” Then in the top of the seventh inning, Cole Baij gave up a one-out single to Jaxon Clark. But he got Meyer to ground out to end the game, giving Norway a hard-earned regional title. Rudyard finishes its season with a 21-13 reecord. But the job wasn't done. Under the relatively-new MHSAA baseball format, the "super regional", or quarterfinal game, is played right after the regional finals, rather than on the following Tuesday. The Onway Cardinals had won a regional title of their own Saturday, so the Knights and Cardinals met in the quarterfinal, and this one was not dramatic. The Knights scored three runs in the first inning and added four more runs in the second inning, and then coasted to a 7-1 win as Cole Baij threw six innings of one-hit ball to get the victory. Ortman finished up by throwing a 1-2-3 seventh inning. Onaway made six errors to help the Norway cause, with Cardinals pitcher Jadin Mix being tagged for all seven runs, four of them earned. Cole Baij's line drive two-run single put the Knights into a 2-0 lead, Bryce Adams singled him home, and it was a quick 3-0 lead. In the second inning, Ian Popp and Cam Varda led off with base hits. Landon Amundson buntedm and on the play, an error allowed Varda to score. Owen Baij then bunted, and the Cardinals couldn't handle that one either, and Amundson scored on that one. And then Cole Baij came through with another RBI single, and it was a 7-0 game. All the Knights had to do from there is pray that the game didn't get called by rain, and even though it was cold, windy, and moist, the teams finished the game. Onaway finished a great year with a 23-8 record, but it was history for the Knights. Owen Baij was in a great mood after the ceremonies were over, and the team returned home with a hero's welcome, led by a police and fire escort.
“A man once told me to walk with the Lord,” Baij said, and then added with a laugh, “I'd rather walk with the bases loaded.”
Cole Baij, meanwhile, was also happy, but still focused.
“It felt amazing to make it this far,” he said. “But the job is not finished.”
Landon Ross echoed that sentiment.
“We've got two more to go,” he said. |
