Edwardsville out-slug Normal West for Sectional Championship

BLOOMINGTON - Star players tend to gravitate toward the center of the stage in big games.

The Edwardsville Tigers had a glorious chance to break away from the Normal Community West Wildcats with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning; they had the man they wanted more than anybody at the plate.

That would be Drake Westcott.

On a 1-1 pitch, the junior Louisville commit pulled a fastball and blasted a grand slam over the right-field fence onto nearby Franklin Avenue.

"I was just looking for a good pitch. I got a pitch on the outside half of the plate. It was a fastball, and I hit it a long way," Westcott said. "That was a huge momentum shift for the team."

That gave the Tigers a 7-2 lead which they would ultimately keep.

Edwardsville took down Normal West 12-8 and claimed the Class 4A Bloomington Sectional Championship at Horenberger Field on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday afternoon. This is the second sectional championship they've won in three years.

"Anytime you can just win and advance. This wasn't the prettiest game overall, but it was kind of a knockdown, drag-out battle. "We had contributors throughout the way." Edwardsville head coach Tim Funkhouser said. "I've had great respect for coach [Chris] Hawkins over the years. His team competed. They got some good players."

Westcott went on to hit another home run in the sixth inning, giving him eight for the season. He finished 2-for-3 with six RBI. Joe Copeland was 2-for-4 at the plate with three RBI while Joe Copeland and Dalton Wallace each finished 2-for-3. As a team, the Tigers busted out 11 hits.

"[Drake] put a good swing on a couple of pitches and we were able to get rewarded because of it, and he got rewarded as well," Funkhouser said. "That was a big punch we needed."

Normal West head coach, Chris Hawkins, who knew enough about Westcott's capabilities admitted he was tempted to walk him with the bases full, but ultimately thought against it.

"Everybody says, 'don't pitch to Westcott,' but when the bases are loaded, it's hard to do," Hawkins said. "Our guys were 30-6 for a reason coming in, and I'll go down in the ship with them because we're going to fight and claw. We're not going to give anybody anything. If they take it, you've got to tip your cap."

The Wildcats picked up two runs in the top of first off Grant Schaefer on two errors, but the Tigers erased their early deficit courtesy of a two-run double by Joe Copeland. Logan Cromer then drove in Wallace with an RBI double that helped set the stage for Westcott's grand slam.

Normal West, who fell short of what could've been their second ever sectional championship, showed grit and determination after falling behind by five runs.

In the top of the third after Austin Collinson hit a double, Cole Hernandez drove him in with a double of his own. The next batter was Brandon Roth who knocked an RBI single making it 7-4.

Grant Schaefer pitched three and one-third innings and gave up six runs (three earned) while allowing five hits and striking out and walking two batters for Edwardsville.

"Grant pitched better than what showed. Our defense was giving them more outs. He probably threw six innings worth of outs," Funkhouser said.

The next inning, Normal West bridged the gap to 7-6. An RBI single from Collinson scored C.J. Lewis, and Will Kafer beat out a throw from second base on a fielders choice, which brought in Sean Shook.

However, in the bottom half of the fourth, Edwardsville had their response.

With two on and one out, Joe Copeland lined an RBI single to left-field making it 8-6. After a hit-by-pitch and a strikeout, the Tigers got another bases-loaded situation with Dalton Wallace up to bat. He rose to the occasion and ripped a single up the middle just out of the reach of the shortstop, which scored two more runs making it 10-6.

"You could look at it the other way. Every time they did something, we had a response until the end," Hawkins said. "Both teams delivered punches. It was a heavyweight bout for a while. Tim has a great program over there, and I have the ultimate respect for him."

With two outs in the fifth, Shook kept the Wildcats in it with two-run double edging back to 10-8, but then Funkhouser enlisted Collin Salter into the sixth inning, and he would shut things down.

"I had to keep the ball down. They're a good hitting team. If you leave the ball up, they are going to hit it," Salter said. I was just doing my job and going out there and trying to close out the game. Watching how good their hitters are and just getting ready to compete against them was exciting."

Westcott would be back to torment Normal West one last time in the sixth inning.

On the first pitch from Roth, Westcott crushed a hanging curveball over the right-field fence again for his second round-tripper of the game. That made it 12-8 and gave Salter and the Tigers some much insurance.

"It was a hanging curveball on the inner half, and I put a good swing on it and hit it a long way. Once we got that, you could kind of tell that they were down," Westcott said. "They battled the whole way. Every time they scored, we put up runs to match them."

Edwardsville will meet Chicago (Marist) in the Springfield Super-Sectional on Monday at Lincoln Land Community College with a 6 p.m. first pitch. Marist defeated Providence Catholic 9-5 in the Wilmette Sectional Finals.

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