Lakota West guarantees itself share of GMC title
Lakota West's Firebirds had almost as much at stake in Mason's game at Colerain on Monday as they did in their own game at Oak Hills.
Lakota West needed a win to clinch at least a tie for its first Greater Miami Conference title since 2009. A Firebirds win and a Mason loss would mean an outright GMC title, but Lakota West coach Bill Dreisbach hadn't bothered to arrange for updates from Groesbeck.
"I guess we'll have to wait for the scores to come in tonight," he said before Monday's game. "We're just trying to focus on our game."
The Firebirds took care of their end. Senior left-hander Grant Schuermann allowed one hit and one walk while racking up seven strikeouts and Lakota West, the No. 1 team in the Enquirer's Division I coaches poll, clinched at least a co-championship with a 4-0 win at Oak Hills' Marge Schott Field.
"That's our No. 1 goal every year – to contend and hopefully win a GMC title," Dreisbach said. "We certainly want to try to have it all to ourselves."
The Firebirds, ranked third in the most recent Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association Division I poll, got one hit each from seven different players and just one for extra bases while playing errorless baseball.
"We play with a lot of confidence behind Schuermann," Dreisbach said.
Lakota West capitalized on two Oak Hills errors to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning. The Firebirds took control while sending eight batters to the plate in a three-run fifth that started with senior shortstop Ike Cloutier's single to center field. He was sacrificed to second and scored on junior third baseman Austin Allinger's double to right-center field. Junior right-fielder Dallas Hall followed with a run-scoring single to center, and ended up scoring on Schuermann's bases-loaded sacrifice fly.
Ending that GMC title drought had been on the minds of Lakota West's seniors for quite a while, Cloutier said. They realized that Lakota West hadn't tasted a title since before they showed up at school.
"We talked about it a lot before the season," said Cloutier, who finished with two hits and a stolen base. "We haven't talked about during the season because we wanted to focus on the game."
Monday's win would've clinched the outright title if the Firebirds hadn't lost, 3-2, on Friday at home to Oak Hills, the Enquirer's sixth-ranked team.
"We kind of let that game get away from us," Cloutier said. "We kind of wanted to come out here today and show who the better team was."
PLAY OF THE GAME: Oak Hills' senior right-fielder Matt Bass' infield single with two outs in the fourth inning, which allowed the Highlanders to avoid being no-hit.
STAR OF THE GAME: Schuermann, who allowed only two baserunners. Neither got past first base.
VIEW FROM THE DUGOUT: Oak Hills coach Chuck Laumann on Schuermann: "Top to bottom, beginning to end, that was the most polished performance I've seen in a long time. We see a lot of good pitching pitchers in our conference, but they usually have a hiccup somewhere along the way. He had no hiccups today."
EXTRA INNINGS: Lakota West is scheduled to play at Kings today before returning to GMC completion at home Wednesday against Sycamore.
Lakota West 4, Oak Hills 0
W–Schuermann (6-0). L–Essell (3-3). Leaders: L–Allinger 2B, 2R; Cloutier 2-2, SB. Records: L 18-3 (GMC 14-2), O 12-9 (10-6).