WALK OFF WIN
Mooresville wins with walk off hit by Will Moreno-Bastianello.
The age-old theory of difficulty in beating the same team 3 times in one season began to rear its head late in the first-round matchup between Mooresville and Lake Norman.
Cole Intoppa started the game for Mooresville alongside Caden Beaver for Lake Norman. Both were stellar on the night keeping the game close over the first 4 innings. Intoppa went 4 scoreless innings before finally giving up 1 run in the 5th. He would end up walking only 2 on the night and going a strong 6 innings with 1 run given up.
Mooresville struck first with one run in the bottom of the 4th inning taking a 1-0 lead. The wildcats of Lake Norman came back with 1 of their own in the top of the 5th. The blue devils answered again in the bottom of the 5th taking a 2-1 lead.
Conner Robertson and Dawson Bennett both scored for Mooresville with Cole Harvey picking up an RBI.
After a scoreless 6th inning the game got very interesting in the top of the 7th for Lake Norman. Mooresville walked 3 batters while Michael Busa and Carson Horsefall both scored for the wildcats taking a 3-2 lead. Right then it seemed as if all the hard work Mooresville had put in on the season streak would be washed away to their arch rival. Lake Norman on the other hand had plans to win the game, close out the blue devils and move on to the second round. Mooresville had the top of the order coming up which was a positive as well as a home field advantage.
Luke Modrak managed to get on early and worked his way in to scoring position. Will Moreno had a hit as well moving Modrak to second base. Connor Robertson was at the plate with 2 outs battling the pitcher, when a passed ball got Modrak and Moreno to 2nd and 3rd respectively.
With two strikes on Robertson, the wildcats were one strike away from closing out the blue devils and winning the game. The next pitch went directly to the back stop and without hesitation Modrak was off and running to home from 3rd base. This was simply the make-or-break moment of a man’s career. Senior year in the playoffs knowing if he is out, the game is over…season over… career at Mooresville over. The pressure was immense for Modrak being the experienced player he is, beat the throw by inches tying the game at 3. Manager Andrew Martin referred to the appropriate comment “speed kills” about Modrak and that tying run. “That kid is fast”
The Mooresville fans erupted in cheers along with relief to know that this game would at least extend in to extra innings and a lot of pressure came off the blue devils.
For Lake Norman, they did what they needed to do to win the game in regulation but faltered at the very last possible moment. Robertson who had 3 walks on the day and scored 2 of Mooresville’s 4 runs actually struck out and ended the inning on a very close pitch. The entire game was defined on that previous play and the cruelty of baseball showed its ugly side. Pitching to Connor Robertson is no easy task knowing one mistake he will put it in to the cheap seats, so a wild pitch is understandable.
There was hesitation and some anger from the Lake Norman fans believing Modrak was out at home plate. He did manage to make it to home safely as shown in our photos, but we did not know for sure until post production. It was definitely a very close play at home without a doubt. There were a few controversial calls by the fans judgement in this game that we will touch on at the end.
Free baseball as they say.
For the next two innings, the pitching staff for both teams showed up big. Talon Russ for Mooresville was fantastic in not allowing a run or walk. Russ came in late in the top of the 7th and got the final out for Mooresville before heading in to the bottom half. Having pitched the 8th,9th and 10th flawlessly Russ set himself up for the win if Mooresville could do it with the bats. Russ also made 2 defensive plays on his own coming off the mound and making the put out to first base.
Mooresville had a few opportunities to score a run, one in particular was a close call and play at 3rd base in the 8th inning. We have some photos of it but at the end of the day the play itself never changed the outcome of the game and had no decisive effect on it. Mooresville was looking to get a man to 3rd base with only one out and the throw beat the runner by a good bit. We believe they said the 3rd baseman missed the tag but that is definitely debatable. On our end the 3rd baseman for Lake Norman played it perfectly and it was simply too difficult at our distance to give an accurate assessment on this play.
The call on the field was ruled safe and Mooresville simply needed a fly ball to the outfield to win the game. The next two batters went down for the blue devils ending the inning stranding the runner at third base. Freshman pitcher Morgan McGuire needs to keep his head held high for he did a tremendous job shutting down the blue devil’s threat. The momentum seemed to change in to Lake Normans favor at this point in the game. McGuire is going to end up having a fantastic career for the Lake Norman Wildcats.
At the start of the bottom of the 9th, Luke Modrak smashed a ball to right center field which appeared to be in the gap. Throughout the year we have watched Modrak rack up doubles and triples on this same type of hit. The Lake Norman right fielder was quick on the ball and gunned down Modrak at second base with a perfect throw.
The rest of the 9th played out as a draw with both teams threatening and nobody scoring. The top of the 10th came and went for Lake Norman as Russ shut them down again. But the bottom of the 10th brought more 2 out drama. The Mooresville lead off batter went down and then Connor Robertson had a clutch at bat and ended up drawing his 3rd walk of the night. A few pitches later he stole on a curve ball by Lake Norman and the timing couldn’t have been any better. He was now in scoring position. Cole Harvey picked up a walk but the only run that mattered was Robertson at second.
Then came Senior Will Moreno-Bastianello.
Moreno swung and missed at the first pitch curve ball but the second pitch was belt high and Moreno knocked it in to the outfield. With 2 outs Robertson was running on contact and scored easily from second. Bedlam ensued and the Mooresville Blue Devils took the walk off win in the bottom of the 10th inning. A fan favorite Moreno couldn’t have had a bigger at bat in his Mooresville career. A threat on the day he was responsible for 3 hits and the game winning RBI. The difficult task of taking down your cross-town rival for the third time in one season was complete.
Mooresville gave a lot of credit to Lake Norman for they are a solid team and things just didn’t go their way at the end. They are a well-coached ball club and will have some great seasons ahead for sure. It is a separate argument and issue to discuss the ramifications of playing a conference opponent in round 1 of the playoffs yet alone a rival like this. It does not even matter if the seeding was separated by 20 spots, due to the rivalry alone something could happen.
We somehow have to believe that the system is as good as it can be right now and are not one to judge what should be done. If the mathematical formula had it down this way, the powers at be must let the system play out. In every system someone is going to be at a disadvantage we suppose, but at any rate, the fact remains this was not a normal round 1 match up for either team. It would be nice to see both teams have a chance to continue on being great programs and not have the system itself negate this possibility.
The statistical breakdown on the night: (Max Preps)
Photography by Kami Bodine and Matt Schiller
Player audio interviews are below:
Cole Intoppa
Will Moreno
ONE MILLION PHOTOS STRONG
Open Every Day. Iredell County – – Mooresville, NC 28117
