The names may change, and the faces may change, but the results stay the same in
Fort Thomas.
Highlands hold on the 36th District continued on Tuesday as they bested Newport
Central Catholic, 4-3 at Highland Park in the district championship for their 12th straight title.
“It takes buy-in” Highlands coach, Jeremy Baioni said “I told the guys, there’s 23 of
them and I appreciate every one of them, even the guys that didn’t get in. They’re in
the game, they’re engaged, they’re helping by bringing gloves out, they’re great
teammates, and that’s what it takes. It takes that type of culture, where guys
understand it’s a team sport.”
When the two played in the regular season, the outcome was very different. The
Bluebirds shut out the Thoroughbreds 8-0, on April 17.
“High school pitching is all about the matchups” NewCath coach, Jeff Martin said
“We didn’t throw our number one then, but we did tonight. We had him (Connor
Seiter) ready to go and he threw a gem. He only had two walks and five strikeouts.
They were just one play better than us.”
Highlands put the first runs on the board in the third inning. Callum McAtee
advanced to home on a fielder’s choice and Max McNay scored the next run on
another fielder’s choice.
Callum McAtee was named the tournament MVP. He finished 2-for-3 from the plate,
both hits for doubles and an RBI.
“It means a lot. There’s a strong history of success for Highlands in this tournament.
It’s really nice to be up there with some of the others that have won MVP in the past,”
McAtee said. “I trusted in my work and my abilities. I put in a lot of work in the
offseason. In games like this, I just have to let loose and play.”
McAtee made it 3-0 in the fourth on a run-scoring double.
Newport Central Catholic responded with a three-run fifth inning. The Bluebirds had two of their three errors in the frame.
Ian Mann hit a line drive two-run double and later scored on the
Bluebirds second error to make it 3-3. Mann went 2-for-3, with two RBI and a run.
“We had a clutch hit,” Martin said. “We had some pinch runners in, we get one long ball,
and it was a game-changer. We ran some runners in motion and created some
chaos, just not enough.”
The Bluebirds answered in the bottom of the fifth, which proved to be the winning run.
Brody Benke’s sac fly to centerfield scored Nolan Schwalbach, Benke sealing the deal from there on the mound. He relieved Zach DeSylva and struck out five of the eight batters he faced for the Bluebirds’ 22nd victory of the season.
“We’ve been resilient, but I think this team is waiting to break out offensively,”
Baioni said “We did enough today. We’ve talked a lot about not worrying about
winning, but doing what it takes to win, and we did what it took to win today.”
Along with McAtee, DeSylva and Cam Bottom were named to the All-Tournament
team for Highlands.
DeSylva finished the night on the mound with five strikeouts in five innings. Jacob
Robinson went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Drew Barth provided an RBI.
Connor Seiter and Ian Mann were given All-Tournament team honors for the ‘Breds.
NewCath will go into the 9th Region Tournament as a two-seed, joining Covington
Catholic, Conner, and St. Henry. They will play either Ryle, Dixie Heights, or
Beechwood, three of the four one-seeds.
The Bluebirds go in as one of the four one-seeds and play either Covington Catholic,
Conner, or St. Henry.
BLUEBIRDS 4, THOROUGHBREDS 3
NEWPORT CENTRAL CATHOLIC — 000-030-0 — 3-4-2
HIGHLANDS — 002-110-x — 4-6-3
2B — (NCC) Mann, (H) McAtee 2, Schwalbach
WP —DeSylva. LP —Seiter.
Records: Newport Central Catholic 12-18, Highlands 22-16