Digging his spikes in the batter’s box, senior Shaun Rudick was surrounded by a symphony of cheers, jeers and prayers. As the tall, dark blue figure 60 feet away unleashed his pitch, the bright lights sparkled in the magical night sky as if the baseball gods were smiling down on the Wildcats in approval.
Rudick put his barrel to the ball, driving a rocket into the grass in right-center field. Junior Grant Matalia hustled around third base as fielders relayed the ball towards the catcher. Matalia dove home with an outstretched arm as if he were Superman, as the catcher received and fumbled the ball from the fielder. And as the umpire signaled Matalia safe, a jubilant roar erupted from Wildcat players and fans.
With one play, the team that had spent almost 70 years in the darkness reached the light at the end of the tunnel, lifting above their heads the polished wooden plaque that crowned them Maryland baseball champions.
Walter Johnson High School, named after the Hall of Fame pitcher, beat the Urbana Hawks in a 7-6 walk-off victory on May 23, coming back from a 4-0 deficit to win their first state championship in school history.
Already trailing 4-0 after the top of the fourth inning, WJ found themselves in their biggest deficit all postseason. Prior to this, the Cats had mercy-ruled each of their past three opponents by scores of 10-0.
“We’ve held the last three teams to zero runs in the last three games; this game didn’t really go that way, but we fight,” head coach Steve Sutherland said.
WJ found momentum in the bottom of the fourth inning as Rudick singled to center field. A few batters later, the Cats pounced, scoring their first run of the game as senior second baseman Andreas Johnson whacked a single to left field to score Rudick from second base. Senior designated hitter Zack Roach knocked a base hit a batter later, tacking on two runs to make it a one-run game.
“I try to take it one pitch at a time, one play at a time, not make any moment too big. [Try to] stay composed,” Rudick said.
Junior third baseman Ethan Pletter crushed an inside-the-park home run to right-center field in the fifth inning, rounding the bases to tie the game 4-4.
Urbana tallied two runs in the top of the sixth, but Roach responded with a rocket into left field to score a run later in the inning. Urbana made a costly mistake with Roach on third base, throwing a wild pitch to allow the Cats to swipe the tying run.
Joncas then pitched a scoreless seventh inning to set up an easier-said-than-done task for WJ in the bottom of the seventh inning: score one run, win the title.
Senior right fielder Ethan Hsu led off with a base hit to center, as Sutherland sent in Matalia to pinch run for Hsu. Matalia advanced to second on a passed ball, putting the game-winning run in scoring position for Rudick to do the rest.
“I feel so good, we sent the seniors off with a win, that’s just the best feeling ever,” sophomore Drew Joncas said. “I mean, it just feels amazing, it’s incredible, my team fought so hard. We just stayed in it the whole game. Never a doubt.”
Junior Spencer Gilcrest started on the mound and went 5 ⅓ innings, striking out two and surrendering five hits and five earned runs while keeping WJ in a close game. Sophomore Drew Joncas entered the game in the sixth inning, striking out four batters and only giving up three hits as he closed out the game for the Wildcats.
The Cats’ road to the state finals was long. Thus, head coach Steve Sutherland had a simple pre-game address to the team ahead of the biggest game of their lives.
“I just said, ‘hey, we’ve made it this far, why not finish?’ We fight at the end of games, and that really came out today.
“To win it in the bottom of the seventh, it’s the best feeling I’ve ever had,” Sutherland said.
