It didn’t look good for Lane late in the City Championship game on Monday at Wrigley Field. Kenwood’s senior left-hander Kevari Thunderbird was rolling. He held the Champions scoreless giving up only two hits through five and a third.
Thunderbird hit his pitch count limit with one out in the sixth. It looked bleak for the Champions after Kenwood senior left-hander and center fielder Khamaree Thomas took over for Thunderbird promptly striking out two Champions to keep the shutout going.
But Lane’s head coach Sean Freeman, channeling his inner Jason Heyward, gathered his team during a long delay before the Champions came to bat in the top of the seventh. Not the rain from the Heavens like in Cleveland for the Cubs but an injured umpire stopped the game for an extended period. Freeman rallied his group for one last chance at the City Championship on the big stage.
“I mentioned the 49ers v. the Ravens when the lights went out and the Ravens ended up coming back. I said we are going to do that right here. It ended up being great.”
With one out, junior shortstop Ted Greco walked. Standout right freshman Sebastian Wilson crushed a double to right center advancing Greco to third. Senior Ethan Borggren singled to left scoring Greco.
Then it was Tyler Trapp’s turn. The junior second baseman struggled early in the game with two errors and a strikeout.
“It was a change-up just perfectly down the middle in my perfect spot and I just did everything I know,” said Trapp. He crushed it over the centerfielder’s head to score Wilson and Borggren. Just that quick, the game was tie. Tyler’s celebration at second base was reminiscent of the Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo in the tenth inning of the seventh game of the 2016 World Series.
Keeping it going, Champions’ outfielder Henry Owens walked on four pitches. Sophomore third baseman Ronan Owens crushed a long sacrifice fly to right field advancing Trapp to third.
Henry Owens stole second.
With two out and men on first and second, catcher Elias Padilla singled scoring two runs to give the Champions a 5-3 lead with the Broncos still to bat.
Winning pitcher senior Oliver Evans stayed in for the bottom of the seventh. Strike out swinging for Kenwood’s Damaurion Butler. One out. Kenwood’s Jimmy Downs struck out swinging as well. Two down.
Kenwood’s clean-up hitter, senior first baseman Savion Flowers chopped a ground ball to first base. Ethan Borggren grabs it beating Flowers to the bag. Wrigley erupted in celebration. The Champions rushed out of the first base dugout onto the field. Hats and gloves flew into the air. Players ran into center field in celebration.
Foul ball.
After things settled down a bit. Sean Freeman walked out through the infield telling his team that the umpires had ruled the grounder a foul ball. The game would go on.
With Flowers back in the box and Evans back on the mound, Flowers hit a high fly ball to left. Champions’ senior Grant Leff gloved it. This time it was over. Champions won the Chicago Public League City Championship at Wrigley Field for the second time in three years. A second celebration ensued.
Of Kenwood pitcher Kevari Thunderbird, Freeman could not say enough. “He is a great pitcher. I tip my cap to him. He was the best player on the field today. I knew that once he hit the limit, if we could get him there, our odds would obviously go up a little bit,” said Freeman, not a man given to exaggeration.
The Lane players showed a maturity well beyond their years. Frankly, Thunderbird had them well under control for most of the game. Even when he got in a jam, as he did in the third and fourth, he got himself out of trouble with strikeouts.
“We were trying to work the counts as deep as we could. We knew that he would be pulled after 115 pitches,” Trapp said. Having committed two errors early in the game, Trapp stayed in the game mentally and physically.
“I just let the errors stay in the past. I can’t change the past. I just keep looking toward the future, toward my next opportunity,” Trapp said.
Next opportunity is the IHSA playoffs that start Wednesday.
[As for the photos, I worked up about three or four times as many as I usually do delaying the posting of them. I figured more is better under these unique circumstances. Not often—okay probably never again—will these players get photos of themselves playing at Wrigley Field.]
