Two Evansville-area teams advance to IHSAA baseball state championship

EVANSVILLE — The margin of error at this stage of the state tournament can be a single play.How truthful was that on Saturday, June 13? The victor from the Class 4A semi-state championship at Braun Stadium didn't register a base hit.

A statistical anomaly many could consider baffling. Yet, a single play earned one team a spot at Victory Field and the other dejected tears.Thus is playoff baseball.

More: Tecumseh softball leans on culture for 4th state title in five yearsMore: Barr-Reeve softball shuts out South Central, claims IHSAA 1A state titleNo. 10 Bloomington defeated No. 3 North 1-0 at the University of Evansville by the thinnest of margins.

The Panthers scored via a throwing error in the fourth inning. The Huskies stranded 11 runners on base. Therein lied the difference."

It felt like one hit would have opened the game up for us," North coach Jeremy Jones said. "We just couldn’t get it in this game."How close was North (28-5) to a return trip to Indianapolis?

One swing.The Huskies stranded two runners in the second, third and fourth innings. They had two in scoring position with one out in the sixth and bases loaded in the seventh.

After finding the crucial hit all season, particularly once the tournament arrived, it evaded them in the state semifinal. One tough sequence to stomach came when Jaxon Edmond was thrown out at home following a Kelby Sollman single.North had four hits, five walks and reached on two errors.

Not a single one crossed the plate."Too many runners left on," Jones said. "The play at the plate — we had two really good swings after the rain delay.

It would have been nice to get one there and let our guys relax a bit."Bloomington South (25-6) capitalized on the only mistake. Connor Couch drew a two-out walk in the fourth, which was followed by a ground ball to third by Drew Palileo.

The throw evaded first base, allowing Couch to round the bases. Paired with an impressive outing by Xavier Hemingway on the mound — the senior gave up only three h