Covenant Christian baseball 'finally rewarded' as day of upsets leads to sectional title
CLAYTON — Covenant Christian finally got the sectional title it's been yearning for by taking down Cascade on Monday night.
“We’ve struggled against Cascade for a couple years, big games we haven’t been able to pull through,” pitcher Brad Nardi said. “So, for us to show up like this for an entire tournament means a lot.”
The Warriors fell short of the sectional title in 2022, losing to Cascade, 6-5, in the sectional final.
This year, they made sure that didn’t happen, as Covenant beat Cascade, which was ranked No. 9 in 2A, 5-1, on the Cadets' home field.
IHSAA baseball scores: See which teams lifted sectional trophies
Covenant (14-16) took down University earlier Monday, 2-0, to make it into the sectional final. The Warriors made sure to celebrate their 2-0 day, dousing coach Chris Stevenson with ice-cold water.
“I’m very proud of the boys,” Stevenson said. “They put in a lot of hard work over these last three years, and I’m just glad that they’re finally rewarded with it.”
Nardi was the catalyst for the Warriors in their second game of the day, delivering a one-hitter with eight strikeouts. He also went 1-for-2 at the plate with an RBI.
But he still thinks he has more to prove.
“I didn’t have my best stuff, but I had enough to compete,” Nardi said. “My defense played really well behind me. They really showed up today, and they put me in position to win.”
Cascade (20-8) scored its only run of the night on a fluke — or a series of flukes — in the top of the first inning.
With runners on first and second, the second-base umpire called a balk on Nardi, and the runners moved to second and third. Then, Nardi was quickly called for another balk just a couple pitches later, scoring Cascade’s Jonas Johnson.
“That was unusual,” Nardi said. “I have never experienced that, but I just have to make an adjustment and correct it the next chance I get.”
The umpire called one more balk on Nardi in the top of the fifth inning, but other than that, he was dominant.
“Brad was just dominating all night,” Stevenson said. “... He’s been doing it all year, it’s no surprise to us. He’s been doing it all season long, and he just continued it tonight.”
The Warriors started their scoring in the third inning, as outfielder Nolan Moore led off the inning with a triple. Catcher Nolan Jones then made it to second base with a hit-by-pitch and a stolen base, and utility player Jack Anderson brought them both home with a two-RBI single.
Moore hit an RBI single in the fifth inning to cushion the lead, and Nardi rounded out the scoring in the sixth with an RBI double.
“It means a lot,” Nardi said of the strong offense behind him. “Sometimes we struggled this year with the bottom of our order not picking it up, but they really picked it up and gave the top-order guys a lot of confidence coming into that last inning so we could put those runs across.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA baseball: Covenant Christian upsets Cascade for sectional title
