One more win

Harwood baseball advances to state championship

Jubilation! That was the emotion among Harwood baseball players after their thrilling 3-2 semifinal victory over Woodstock Monday.

And the team hopes to experience the same emotion tonight, Thursday, when the Highlanders face second-seeded Mill River in the Division II state championship game.

Montpelier’s Recreation Park (Mountaineer Field) hosts Harwood’s first baseball state championship appearance in 30 years at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 12.

Under ominous skies in Duxbury Monday, the top-seeded Highlanders only managed three hits against Woodstock starting pitcher Matt Poljacik, but got things going in the third inning with two runs.

Adam Lamson got the rally started when he tagged a curveball for a double. After Luke Russell was hit by a pitch, Dylan McIsaac cracked a ground-rule double to right-center, scoring Lamson for the game’s first RBI and sending Russell to third.

In perhaps the game’s top highlight, Russell then stole home to make it a 2-0 game. More on that later.

In the fourth inning, Harwood added another run without a hit when Matt Fischer led off with a walk, stole second and scored on a John Davis sacrifice fly.

The Wasps threatened in the fifth. After Harwood pitcher Luke Russell notched his eighth strikeout to start the inning, Woodstock used the bottom third of its batting order to string together two singles.

Tyler Atwood came in to relieve Russell and gave up a single to heavy hitter Bradley Lewis to load the bases. Woodstock then scored on a fielder’s choice. Harwood’s Ty Delphia handled the grounder and gingerly flipped a backhand to second for the out.

Harwood cut the rally short with one of the game’s many defensive gems. Third baseman John Dillon snagged a sharp crack and made a strong throw to first to catch the runner in time.

Russell threw mostly fastballs and mixed in some curveballs to keep the Wasps at bay, allowing six hits, one run and one walk.

Poljacik, meanwhile, used an effective breaking ball to limit Harwood to three hits, but gave up four walks.

Domenic Moreno pitched the seventh for Harwood and buckled down after giving up a lead-off walk. He got some incredible defensive help, as well.

Dylan MacIsaac made a spectacular leaping catch in deep center for the first out.

But, with two outs, the Wasps managed a single, scoring a runner from second to make it 3-2.

In the suspenseful final play of the game, Atwood scooped up a hot potato at short and whipped it to first smartly for the final out, icing the game and securing a championship match-up.

Harwood’s17-year head coach Mitch Casey said things came together well in the semifinal. “We have good pitching and good fielding,” he said.

But Harwood was outhit for the first time this season, and Casey was not happy about it.

“We’re dropping our shoulders and swinging at bad pitches. I think we had eight or nine fly-ball outs,” he said. “Good thing (assistant coach) Rick (Aldrich) talked Luke into stealing home,” he added.

Harwood needed that run. Aldrich had noticed that Mill River’s pitcher had a habit of looking down before delivering a pitch. He gave Russell the signal to take advantage and called a play they’ve practiced many times.

“He’s wanted to steal home since the season started,” Casey noted. “He’s been begging for it.”

Getting an early lead in the game was important, Moreno said.

“That gave us kind of a booster,” he said. “It was a good game. They’re a good team. They played their hardest and we did too.”

Woodstock came into the game with a record of 14-4. The team has seven seniors and seven freshmen.

Harwood, which has seven seniors and four juniors, improved its record to 14-1.

“Our defense is a huge part of why we’ve done so well, so hopefully we can keep that up,” said MacIsaac, whose Little League coach watched the game.

“He was one of my best players,” said the former coach, Bill McDonald. “It was a thrill to watch him today and we’re looking forward to Thursday.”

When asked if he was going to attend the championship game, he replied, “Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t miss it.”