The North Oldham Mustangs (9-16) won a pitcher’s duel 2-1 at home to split the season series against the Oldham County Colonels (19-6) on Thursday night.
“I’m extremely proud,” North head coach Zach Ivester said. “It’s no secret we struggled a little bit early. We lost a lot of one-run games. We took our lumps, but to be able to hold serve in the district and go 2-2 against two older, really good teams, that gives our kids a lot of confidence. They should be really proud, they deserve to be really proud, because a one-run win over a district rival throwing their number one as a young team, it’s amazing. It was incredible. A great team win.”
Oldham County head coach Bo Akers knows sometimes games like this happen where the bats aren’t connecting throughout.
“Coen [Ball] threw really well, Clay [Cartledge] threw really well,” Akers said. “I thought defensively we played well. We just couldn’t quite get it going at the plate. These games happen sometimes.”
North junior Gray Schmittel threw a complete game, allowing one run on three hits in his third varsity start on the mound.
“This is my third ever start pitching and just having [Elliott Roberts] behind the plate gives me a lot of confidence to go out there and execute pitches,” Schmittel said. “I trusted my defense behind me, and it feels great to go out there and show up against a rival.”
Oldham County senior Coen Ball tossed 4.2 innings, striking out five. Junior Clay Cartledge came in relief, throwing 1.1 innings.
“[Ball] did a good job,” Akers said. “Defensively, we were in the game all the way, just couldn’t quite break through offensively.”
Mustang junior Elliott Roberts batted in the game-winning run on a 2-for-2 day. Freshman Gabe Kuerzi went 1-for-3 with one RBI.
“We’re comfortable being uncomfortable,” Roberts said. “We make situations in practice harder than situations out here. We have to move faster in practice than we do out here, working harder in practice makes the game out here a lot slower. It makes it easier for you, helps you breathe.”
The game opened with both pitchers commanding the game. Schmittel allowed a walk but stranded the runner after two ground outs. Ball threw a three up, three down inning, striking out two in the bottom half of the first to end the inning.
Oldham County sophomore Daniel Stewart led off the second inning with a single. Schmittel ended the top of the second with three consecutive outs. Roberts picked up the first hit for North Oldham on a single. Ball walked another runner but kept the Mustangs scoreless on a ground out.
“The thing about Gray, he’s only been a pitcher for about a month, but I’ve learned in my time experience in everything competitiveness is,” Ivester said. “You just have to trust kids like that. He’s got some grit. He’s tough. A tough, gritty kid is the kind of kid that you want on the mound in a district rivalry game. It’s not flashy, it’s not sexy. He keeps the ball down, he throws strikes, and if you keep the ball down and you control at bats, you’re going to be tough to hit.”
In the top of the third inning, junior Logan Slechter singled before senior Jaxon Perkins gave the Colonels a 1-0 in the next at bat on an RBI double. Schmittel stranded Perkins at second on back-to-back fly outs and a ground out. The Mustangs tied the game in the bottom of the third on a two-out RBI single by Kuerzi. After a walk, Ball ended the third inning on a ground out.
Schmittel forced a ground out to start the top of the fourth inning. After an error put a runner on first base, senior Wyatt Colvin turned a double play to end the top of the fourth. North junior Quinn Steed singled to lead off the bottom of the fourth, but Ball kept the game tied, forcing a line out and ending the fourth inning.
Schmittel threw his first 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fifth inning. Schmittel singled with one out in the bottom of the fifth. He stole second base before Roberts gave North Oldham a 2-1 lead on a two-out RBI single. Cartledge came into the game and ended the fifth inning on a ground out.
“It wasn’t just me and Gabe,” Roberts said. “We had people getting on base in front of us. We don’t do that without people in front of us. On my RBI, Gray had a great dirt ball read. He was able to get to second and get into scoring position. It’s a team effort. The table was just kind of set for me and Gabe. I have all the confidence in the world if Gabe was in the spot that I was in and vice versa.”
Oldham County created an opportunity to take the lead in the top of the sixth, loading the bases with two outs on an error and two walks. Schmittel got out of the jam with his first strikeout of the game. Cartledge stranded a runner in the bottom of the inning to end the sixth.
Cartledge hit a single to lead off the top of the seventh. He moved to second on a bunt by Slechter. Slechter was thrown out on the play for the first out of the inning. Schmittel stranded Cartledge on a fly out and a strikeout to end the game, giving the Mustangs a 2-1 win.
“It feels great,” Schmittel said. “Our first district games, we lost both of them to Oldham and then South [Oldham]. Then, our second one against Oldham got rained out, so this was a makeup game. It feels great to get a win against them and play pretty well.”
North Oldham will host the DeSales Colts (18-9) on Tuesday, May 7 at 6 p.m. before hosting the Trinity Shamrocks (27-4) at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 9.
“Going into the postseason, I think the big thing for us is we finally have guys that are starting to play together and starting to figure out what their roles are,” Ivester said. “We’ll just continue preaching to the kids, ‘whatever your role is, be the best on the team at it.’ If we have 15 or 16 guys pulling in the right direction in the postseason, I think we’re dangerous, and I like where we’re at. I think we have as good a chance as anybody.”
Oldham County will host Simon Kenton (19-8) at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 6. The Colonels will also host the Ballard Bruins (20-5) on Wednesday, May 8 and the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds (7-15) on Thursday, May 9, both games will start at 6 p.m.
“We’ll be alright. I’m not too worried,” Akers said. “I thought we took aggressive at bats. [Thursday], they were all either ground balls that went to people or just not quite finding holes. We hit some deep fly balls that hung up in the air just a little longer than they needed to. I still thought that the approach was solid. I thought we were aggressive. Some days happen where you end up going first pitch and getting a good pitch to hit, and it just doesn’t get through. It happens.”