Minor delivers major performance for Norwalk

NORWALK — Usually the third time is the charm.For Norwalk on Tuesday, it took two cycles of three chances — six innings against Willard — before the Truckers cashed in on a scoring opportunity.Norwalk, behind a masterful performance by Ian Minor, finally got runs in after having runners in scoring position in every inning in the sixth inning, topping the Crimson Flashes, 3-0 in non-league action."That would have been 18 innings since we scored a run going back to the first inning against Tiffin Columbian," Norwalk coach Wes Douglas said. "We needed to get the ball on the ground and make Willard handle it a little bit."While the Truckers (3-2) struggled to take advantage of opportunities, Minor kept Willard (1-4) off the board the whole game. The senior allowed just one hit while striking out 10 in the complete game shutout."Ian was fully in control," Douglas said. "He had not pitched in awhile. He has been around a long time and done a lot of good things for us. He did what we needed him to do."Most coaches would be happy to have a starter keep the pitch count around 100 pitches in a seven-inning game. Minor needed just 82 pitches to masterfully shut down the Flashes' offense."That is the best I have felt in a long time," Minor said. "It was nice to come out strong and throw first-pitch strikes. I had great defense behind me. It was really big to keep the pitch count down."Minor and Elijah Reed went toe-to-toe before the Truckers finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth inning. Eli Obringer smacked his second single of the day to lead off the inning. He stole second base with Minor at the plate before Reed was called for a balk. Minor drew a walk with ball four skidding past Willard catcher Anthony Potts, allowing Obringer to score.Minor went to second with the ball sunk in the muddy, watery mess behind home plate and tagged up at third on an overthrown ball. Bray Malson followed with a bunt that went far enough up the first base line to allow Minor to score.Ben Rothhaar followed with a single, going to second on a throwing error. Pinch-hitter Ryan Fox then reached safely on an infield single. The throw to first was again high, allowing Rothhaar to come all the way around and score for a 3-0 advantage."The offense still struggled a little bit," Douglas said. "We scratched out three runs there. Eli had two hits and Malson had a good bunt to squeeze a run in.""Minor finished things from there. His 18 pitches in the seventh inning were his most in any inning on the day. A majority of that came in a 10-pitch at-bat with Isaac Robinson. Minor eventually won the dual by striking out Robinson. Minor then struck out Reed and induced a grounder to finish off the dominant outing."We are young and we don't have a lot of travel-ball players and they don't get a lot of experience and they don't see those off-speed pitches," Willard coach Billy Robinson said. "We try to work on it and focus on the middle of the field to sit back and think fastball before adjusting. I'd like to see us swinging at more fastballs early in the count."Norwalk most certainly had its chances to give Minor support early on. Obringer singled with two outs in the first inning, stole second, and went to third on a throwing error to second. But, Reed got Minor to fly out to centerfield to end the inning.In the second, Malson was hit by a pitch to open the frame. He stole second and was stranded there when Reed tallied three straight strikeouts, all looking. In the third inning, Sam Battles reached on a fielder's choice after Griffin Peiples singled. A sacrifice bunt from Caleb Sommers moved Battles to second, but with Obringer at the plate, Battles baited Potts to throw to second. Battles was caught in a rundown and eventually tagged out.The Truckers got two runners on in the fourth inning, but didn't score. Minor singled and Rothhaar was hit by a pitch, but Reed got Kelton Chapin to ground out to escape the jam. Buddy Baker singled to open the fifth. Cohen Klausing came on to pinch run and stole second base. Peiples' sacrifice bunt moved Klausing to third, but Reed induced first-pitch outs in the air from Battles and Sommers to keep the game scoreless."That was extremely frustrating," Douglas said. "Confidence is a big thing in life and especially at the plate. It is huge if you're not confident and afraid to fail. You are going to be in trouble before the pitch is even thrown."Willard's offensive opportunities were few in number. Minor retired the first eight batters of the game before Josh Gomez drew a two-out walk. Minor bounced back to get a lazy groundout to end the top of the third inning.Minor struck out Carson Cinniger to open the fourth inning before Robinson singled. With Reed at the dish, Minor's pick-off attempt went awry, allowing Robinson to move to second. He went to third on Reed's groundout, but Minor struck out Carson Weirs looking to escape damage.Reed allowed six hits in taking the loss. He struck out four and walked just one."Elijah was throwing strikes and he hit his spots," coach Robinson said. "He's only a freshman and he is level-headed. He gets in there and competes and battles."Norwalk (0-2 SBC Lake) is scheduled to resume league play Wednesday when the Truckers host Vermilion. Norwalk then hosts Shelby on Thursday before welcoming in Bellevue on Friday."We didn't want to use Ian in a non-league game to be honest, but we needed to get a win," Douglas said. "Who knows what the weather is going to be? So we decided we were going to run him as long as we needed to. He was free and easy. He was ahead of hitters." Willard 000 000 0 — 0 1 3Norwalk 000 003 x — 3 6 1WP: Ian Minor. LP: Elijah Reed.