By Craig Brown

A truly remarkable season that started on the practice fields in late February in Latta ended Friday night at Spring Valley High School in Columbia with the St. Joseph’s Catholic School Knights of Greenville defeating the Latta High School Vikings 10-0.

Early in the season, many doubted that the Vikings would even make it to the playoffs, let alone win the Lower State Championship and take the state championship to three games. The Vikings took game one in Latta with the Knights evening the series last Wednesday in Greenville, setting up the showdown in Columbia on Friday.

The Knights won the coin toss and elected to be the home team. An interesting fact is that not only does Spring Valley High have the same colors as Latta but they are also Vikings. With the stadium painted in green and yellow and Viking logos everywhere the Latta fans and players must have felt a little at home.
Josh Bowen led off for the Vikings and sent a low fly ball over second base and what surely looked like a hit and most likely would have been against most teams. But Knights short stop Alex Malsch retreated 50 feet to the grass to make the catch. Look for Malsch to be playing in the big leagues in the future.

Travis Power got a walk to base and with some quick running made it to third base due to some low pitches getting away from the catcher. Power was left on third as Knights pitcher Nick Leonard struck out the next two batters, sending his team to bat.

Power took the mound for the Vikings and struck out the first two batters before giving up a base hit to David Marable. John Kever Love ended the inning with no score as he made a great grab of a grounder at third and threw the runner out at first.

Leonard allowed Buck Terry to base on a walk in the top of the second but kept the Latta batters in check with no hits to get the Knights back to the plate. Angelo Pahila made it to base on an error but Power and the Vikings fielders took down the next three Knights batters to bring the second inning to a close 0-0.

Josh Bowen got a solid hit to center in the top of the third inning, adding a stolen base, but the Knights fielders prevented additional harm. In the bottom of the third inning, the Knights could do no wrong at the plate, producing five runs from three hits, three walks, and two fielding errors.

Trailing 5-0, Latta’s Donell Stanley led off in the top of the fourth with a base hit to center. A strikeout and a hit into a double play quickly ended the top of the fourth for the Vikings. Christian Hendrix took the mound for the Vikings in the bottom of the fourth. The Knights added one run with Sterling Turmon tagging up at third and coming in on a sacrifice fly hit by Angelo Pahila to right field upping the Knights lead to 6-0.

Lenneau Berry led off for the Vikings in the top of the fifth inning with a base hit to left field. Berry got just a little too much of a lead off and was picked off at first base by Leonard, who was reported to have led his region in this category. No additional Viking batters made it to base in this inning. The Knights increased their lead to 8-0 as the fifth inning came to a close with Andrew Judkins and Sean McDermott crossing the plate for the Knights.

In the top of the sixth inning, Josh Bowen and Travis Power made it to base on walks before Leonard and the Knights’ fielders settled down and took the next three batters three up and out to end the inning. Angelo Pahila and Jack Twomey lead off in the bottom of the inning with base hits. Andrew Judkins scored Pahila with a base hit to left to put the Knights up 9-0, also advancing Twomey to third base. Twomey raced home after a low pitch got away from Viking catcher Josh Bowen to end the game at 10-0 on the 10 run lead after five innings rule.

Bowen played an exceptional game at catcher in this game as he did during the entire season and was a team leader this season.

On the mound for the Vikings, Travis Power posted three strikeouts with three walked batters and gave up four hits and five runs scored in three innings pitched. Christian Hendrix posted two strikeouts with three walked batters and gave up six hits with six runs scored in three innings on the mound. Power is credited with the loss.

For the Knights, Nick Leonard posted seven strikeouts with four walked batters and gave up three hits with no runs scored for the win.

At bat for the Vikings, Josh Bowen was 1-for-2 also getting to base on a walk and adding a stolen base; Lenneau Berry was 1-for-2; Donell Stanley was 1-for-3; Travis Power got to base twice on walks; and Buck Terry got to base on a walk.

At bat for the Knights, David Marable was 3-for-4 with two RBIs, adding a third RBI on a sacrifice fly and also getting a stolen base; Alex Malsch was 2-for-4 with a RBI; John Hawkins was 1-for-2, getting to base on an error and a walk with a RBI; Sean McDermott was 1-for-2, also getting to base twice on walks; Angelo Pahila was 1-for-4, also getting to base on an error with a RBI; Jack Twomey was 1-for-4 with a fielder’s choice RBI; Nick Leonard was 1-for-4; Andrew Buff got two RBIs on an error; and Sterling Turmon made it to base on three walks.

On defense for the Vikings, in addition to Bowen, John Kever Love made some great plays at third and Travis Power was outstanding in right field in innings four, five, and six. Alex Malsch and David Marable did a lot of damage at short and second for the Knights.

Viking Head Coach Daniel Little stated that five years ago no one gave the Viking baseball program much of a chance in succeeding. “We have come a long way in five years and I am very proud of this program and these players,” Little said.

Coach Little thanked all of his players, coaches and fans for making this year the success that it was. “I would like to note that the Viking fans far outnumbered the Knights fans and were far more into the game with their cheers and words of encouragement to the players.”

Photos by Craig Brown. Click images below to view at full size!