The Southsider Voice
Visit us at these places!
  • Home
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • Sports
    • Car Nutz
    • Stilley Goes Trackside
    • Southside Deaths
    • Personal Recollections
    • Reminiscing
  • About the Voice
  • Advertising
  • Contact
  • Newspaper Archive
  • Classifieds

Rebels earn state title, high praise for sportsmanship

6/29/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
SOUTHSIDER VOICE PHOTOS BY NATHAN PACE Roncalli’s baseball team stands at attention as the national anthem is performed before the state championship game June 17 at Victory Field. The Rebels defeated No. 1 4A Zionsville 3-2 in extra innings.
Picture
Hayden Harper
Picture
Roncalli players and coaches celebrate after winning the state title at Victory Field.
Picture
Blake Chitwood
Picture
Conrad Daniel
By Al Stilley
Senior staff writer

Roncalli’s baseball season ended with the Class 4A state championship trophy and one of the greatest displays of sportsmanship ever seen in a title game in Indiana.

It seemed unfathomable to believe that a 6-5 team at midseason could even begin to make a surge toward the baseball throne room. 

Second-year coach Aaron Kroll and even some players admitted that the team just wasn’t jelling at midseason or even when the season ended. They had been through several close games that seemed to prepare them for the tournament.

They finished the regular season with a 16-9 record and a 10-1 loss at Terre Haute North. Afterward the players began texting each other and coming together as a team.

The rest is history: the Rebels – with 10 seniors, four juniors, six sophomores and a freshman – brought home the school’s first state baseball championship trophy.

They rolled through the Ben Davis Sectional. In the Decatur Central Regional they defeated Lawrence North, a team that knocked them from the Marion County quarterfinals, and then came from behind to upend Pendleton Heights for the regional championship.

A Southside finalist in the 4A championship game was guaranteed as Roncalli met Center Grove in the Plainfield Semistate, where the Rebels prevailed. 

Roncalli closed the run with a dramatic 3-2 win against No. 1 Zionsville at Victory Field in front of a record state championship crowd of nearly 7,000 spectators June 17.

Again the Rebels saved the best for the last; their last two games were won in extra innings. Pinch-runner Mark Cobb, a sophomore, scampered home as Will Harris beat an infield throw to first for the winning run.

Then Roncalli senior catcher Cody Smith and pitcher Michael McAvene demonstrated the sportsmanship that the school is known for.

Smith saw Zionsville losing pitcher Jack Pilcher face down on the ground; the Eagles lost by a matter of inches at first base. Smith, with his catcher’s shin guards still on, consoled the distraught pitcher.

The moment went viral as photos were shared over social media.
Last week the three players gathered at Victory Field with Channel 13 reporter Kevin Rader to relive those final moments of the season.

Pilcher recalled the moment: “He (Smith) tried to console me. It really helped. It was probably better than anyone on my team could have said.”
​
The three players agreed that the show of sportsmanship wasn’t that big of a deal; nonetheless, the moment stands as a great display of sportsmanship. And Roncalli’s championship trophy represents a team that put it all together in the tournament.
0 Comments

Greenwood diver third

6/29/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Zachary Cooper
Picture
Zachary Cooper, 18, Greenwood, finished third in 10-meter synchro diving with partner Max Showalter and seventh in individual platform diving last week.

They ranked third in each of the four rounds. The duo earned 76.80 points in the quarterfinals with an inward 3 and 1/2, the same dive that Cooper earned 77.40 points Sunday in the individual finals.
​
“I could have done a lot better; it just wasn’t my day,” said Cooper, who plans to compete next month against international competition in Italy. “I was a bit nervous but overall calm, but was just off a little bit. I didn’t change anything in my routine.”
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    February 2021
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

    RSS Feed

 DROP OFF: The Toy Drop 6025 Madison Ave., Suite D
Indianapolis, IN  46227  |  317-781-0023
MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 17187, Indianapolis, IN 46217

ads@southsidervoice.com | news@southsidervoice.com
Website by IndyTeleData, Inc.