Page 21 - Clear Lake Mirror Reporter E-Edition 8-5-2015

Lions are State Champions!

The Lions celebrate their second State baseball title in three years after they topped Waterloo Columbus, 11-1, Saturday at Principal Park in Des Moines. -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy.

Clear Lake upends Columbus in five inninngs to win 2A title
The Clear Lake baseball team simply would not be denied. A leadoff single by Ethan McHenry and a walk to Matt Stephany put two hitter and finishing the season by only allowing eight earned runs in over 63 in-
The Lions captured their second State baseball title in three years on Sat- Lions on with none out in the bottom of the second. Parker Truesdell’s sacrifice nings pitched for an astonishing ERA of 0.44. His outing against Columbus
urday, dominating Class 2A opponents on the way. Clear Lake outscored its bunt attempt was fielded by Farley, but his third baseman could not handle the was a two-hitter. He struck out six and walked one.
three opponents in Des Moines 36-2 to win the 2A state title. The Lions posted throw and bases were loaded. A walk to Cooper Merrill scored the Lions’ first “Our offense did a great job of taking whatever their pitcher and defense
a 20-1 win in the semifinals, setting all-time state tournament records for most run and a sacrifice fly by Ben Mason made the score 2-0. Farley committed an was giving them and when they gave us an opportunity to get some runs on
runs scored and widest margin of victory. error on an infield hit from Brock Adams and the wheels really began to come the board they capitalized in a huge way,” said Thompson. “Mitch clearing the
The Lions, which needed two walk-off grand slams to get to state, won the off the cart when Mitch Keeran delivered a fly ball to right centerfield that one- bases with a double in the second inning really broke things open and put his
2A title with an 11-1 win over Columbus Catholic in the championship game. hopped to the wall. The double scored three runs, putting the Lions ahead 5-0 team in a great spot to finish off the win and earn a well-deserved State Cham-
Clear Lake left the bases loaded in the first inning, but came back with five after two innings. pionship.”
runs in the second and six runs in the third on their way to an 11-1 win over Farley, who won the 2A quarterfinal game with Hinton and saved the Parker Truesdell led Clear Lake offensively with two hits and two runs
Columbus in five innings. Sailors’ semifinal thriller against top-seeded Cascade, left the mound after two scored. The Lions finished with six hits.
“They were up against one of the best pitchers in the state this season in innings and just one earned run. But the damage had been done. The Lions (30-11) became the seventh school in Iowa high school history
Luke Farley, who was coming into the game at 10-0 with an ERA under 1 and The Lions tacked on six more runs in the third, two of them earned. They to win two state championships in different classes. They claimed a Class 3A
a Division I scholarship to Iowa, but the reality on this night was that our kids used two hits, supplied by Truesdell and Adams, along with three walks and two title two years ago. The Lions, who started the season as the top ranked team in
were simply not going to be denied a championship no matter what pitcher or errors to push the lead to 11-0 . Class 2A, were the number three seed in the tournament. Waterloo Columbus
team was in their way,” said Clear Lake Coach Seth Thompson. Adams had a no-hitter going until the fourth inning when a base hit to was the number four seed.
Farley fought his way out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the first by right field put a Sailor aboard the base paths. The runner scored on an unchar- “It’s never going to get old, to win a State title, you just get to see these
striking out two Lions. After that inning, though, Clear Lake started delivering acteristic Lion error. kids’ emotions coming out of the dugout, and working hard to get to this spot.
blows to the Sailors. Adams finished an amazing season fittingly by striking out Columbus’ best
See STATE CHAMPIONS on next page

Congratulations on a Fun & Successful Season

State Champions!

www.clearlakebank.com