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EDWARDSVILLE – Thursday night’s winner-take-all showdown between Edwardsville American Legion Post 199 and Highland Post 439 for the Illinois District 22 regular-season championship came down to one swing of the bat.
Edwardsville’s Alex Schreiber drove a pitch from Cole Carlson in the bottom of the sixth to the fence in left-center for an RBI double that brought in Will Messer with the only run Post 199 really needed as Edwardsville defeated Highland 2-0 at Edwardsville High’s turf field to claim the district regular-season crown and the top seed in next week’s District 22 playoffs.
Edwardsville went to 22-5 overall on the summer, 11-1 in the district while Highland fell to 18-6 on the summer, 10-2 in District 22.
Reid Hendrickson got the ball for Edwardsville and had an outstanding performance on the mound, striking out 10 and conceding only two hits, coming up with big pitches or getting big defensive plays when they were needed to keep Highland off the board.
Edwardsville had a chance to get on top early when they loaded the bases with no one out but couldn’t get a run home. “The first inning was a tough one,” said Post 199 manager Ken Schaake. “We got bases loaded and nobody out and the batters coming up that you like to have coming up; their pitcher (Carlson) did a good job – he struck out two guys and got a ground ball to the shortstop for a forceout.
“Every time we seemed to mount an attack, they came up with a big play or their pitcher came up with some good pitches – he threw one of the better games we’ve seen all year long,” Carlson himself striking out eight on the night, including a stretch of six of the seven hitters he faced in the third and fourth innings.
Hendrickson wasn’t to be outdone, however. “This is one of the better games that he’s pitched,” Schaake said. “He only threw 78 pitches in seven innings, which usually around the fourth or fifth inning, that’s where Reid is sitting; he had his control tonight, struck out 10 guys and hit one, didn’t walk anybody and gave up two hits.”
Highland seemed to have some momentum going for them after the keeping Post 199 off the board after loading the bases. “(Hendrickson) pitched a good game,” said Post 439 manager Harry Painter. “We got out of that first inning and it did give us a little momentum, but he was tough to hit and we couldn’t get anything going. There was two good pitchers going tonight, there’s no doubt, and that’s why a run or two was going to make it – that’s exactly what happened.
“Those were earned runs and a big hit scored the RBI (Schreiber’s RBI double that brought home Messer for what turned out to be an insurance run); the second one (a Cole Hampton single with two out in the sixth that brought in Schreiber) got lost in the lights – that’s too bad, because that changes the top of your next inning.”
Painter felt Hendrickson was throwing his hitters off-balance throughout the evening. “He was throwing our guys off-balance,” Painter said. “Two or three of our better hitters were off-balance on their front foot, swinging late and at things in the dirt; he really had them off-balance.”
“That was a fun game; we competed well and they competed well, so that was a good game,” Hendrickson said. “We were knocking at the door early; we knew we had to stay on track and it would come.”
Painter expects to see Edwardsville again sometime in the postseason. “We’re playing well and had a great game (a 4-2 win over Alton the night before),” Painter said. “We had to win that to get into position tonight to make it worth something; I expect to see some more next week - we will (have another shot at Edwardsville at some point in the playoffs).”
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