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Whitewater 12 Delavan-Darien 2 (Box Score)
By Nate Parrish
The Whitewater High School baseball team (14-8) had come into the start of the playoffs on a little bit of slide as they had lost four of the last five since sweeping Jefferson and earning the #1 seed in the region. On Tuesday evening the Whippets were able to turn things around and blow open a tight game late with a 12-2 6 inning win over Delavan. Delavan got off to a good start as they were able to get to Whitewater pitcher James Dedrick right away in the 1st inning and with the score 1-0 and bases loaded, one out, Coach Pease turned to Bryce Parrish to see if he could get them out of the jam. The Senior pitcher was able to induce a ground ball to 3rd baseman Dylan Pease who stepped on 3rd and fired across the infield, 1st baseman Danny Harnack had a beautiful 1 hop pick off the dirt to complete the double play and get out of the inning. Coach Pease would say “that was a huge play early in the game to hold them to 1 run if they score one or two more in that inning it really changes the entire game”. Whitewater would finally get something going in the 3rd inning against the Delavan ace as James Dedrick reached on an error and was followed by a Dylan Pease walk. Bryce Parrish would triple to center field scoring both runners for a 2-1 lead. In the 5th inning, the Whippets would tack on two more after a single by James Dedrick, Dylan Pease would move him to 2nd on a ground ball. Bryce Parrish was intentionally walked and Jimmy Duval answered the bell with a line drive single scoring Dedrick to make it 3-1. Parrish would later score on a wild pitch for a 4-1 lead. Delavan would answer in the 6th inning with back to back doubles to make it 4-2 heading into the bottom of the 6th. Chris Dedrick would lead off the inning with a walk, Jaden Salmieri followed with a pinch-hit walk and Alex Fero laid down a perfect bunt single to load the bases. James Dedrick would hit a laser one-hopper at the Delavan 3rd baseman playing in but had an errant throw home scoring 2 runs for a 6-2 lead. With 1 out, Bryce Parrish was intentionally walked to load the bases and Jimmy Duval would make Delavan pay again with a line drive single to left and a 7-2 lead. James Dedrick would score on a wild pitch and Cooper Pease would follow with a single to center scoring Parrish and Duval for a 10-2 lead. Chris Dedrick, who led the inning off with a walk, would take a 3-1 pitch out to left field for a home run and a 12-2 victory as the 10 run rule came into effect.
Whitewater was led by James Dedrick 2 for 4 with 2 RBI’s, Jimmy Duval 2 for 4 with 2 RBI’s, Bryce Parrish 1 for 2, triple and 2 RBI’s, Chris Dedrick 1 for 2 with a home run and 2 RBI’s, and Cooper Pease with 2 RBI’s. Bryce Parrish picked up the win on the mound tossing 5.2 innings allowing 3 hits, 1 run while striking out 7 and walking none. Coach Pease said, “hats off to Delavan ace Noal Brouwer (committed to Division 2 Purdue University Northwest) as he can really pitch. Our guys really battled and worked counts against him to give us a chance. Those good at-bats led to getting that pitch count up to 100 pitches after 5 innings and we were really able to get to their 2nd pitcher”.
Next up for Whitewater is Jefferson for the Regional Championship, the winner will move on to sectionals in Brodhead. The game is scheduled to be played Wednesday at 4:45. Come out and watch the Whippets play their last home game of the season.
