The battle for the Trailways-South Conference title has been a long road traveled for the Deerfield baseball team this season.
The conference race, which began on Tuesday, April 9, would not be decided until the month of May when the Demons played state-ranked Johnson Creek and Palmyra-Eagle. All three teams were considered favorites for the conference title.
The Demons did their part until the schedule got tough, going 8-0 to start conference play. Deerfield would take a step back in the title race during its first game against Palmyra-Eagle, which ended in a 5-4 loss on Monday, May 13.
Deerfield bounced back on Thursday, May 16, recording a 2-0 win over the Panthers to keep pace in the conference title race.
The biggest hurdle though would come against Johnson Creek, the No. 1 ranked team in Division 4. The Bluejays were the lone undefeated team left in the Trailways-South.
Deerfield’s first crack at the Bluejays, which was supposed to be held on Tuesday, May 7, was postponed due to weather.
The next game between the two teams on Thursday, May 9 was suspended due to darkness after the game was tied after 11 innings, prolonging the conference race.
However, with a doubleheader scheduled between the two teams on Tuesday, May 21, the conference title race would finally be decided at Johnson Creek Middle/High School.
And it would be worth the wait for the Demons.
The Demons scored a 6-5 walk-off win in the first game and then won 2-1 in the second game to clinch the conference title.
“Palmyra is ranked ninth and Creek is ranked one, I’m like there’s no chance that we are going to be able to get through this,” said Deerfield baseball head coach Scott Gloede. “We split with Palmyra, and we ended up winning both with Creek which is crazy.”
The first game started in the top of the 12th inning as the two teams resumed their contest from Thursday, May 9. Deerfield senior pitcher Kris Hahn quickly worked a 1-2-3 inning to get the Demons up to bat in the bottom of the frame.
Senior Adam Suess led off the inning with a single and then moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt from senior Jackson Drobac.
Suess would then move to third base on a single from junior Aiden Brown, but Johnson Creek recorded a strikeout during the next at-bat to get two outs.
Junior Stephen Bagley, however, would not leave the Suess stranded at third, hitting a 1-2 pitch to left field for a walk-off single.
“That was the best game I’ve ever been a part of in my whole life, playing and coaching,” said Gloede. “That game was incredible.”
Rallies in the first game helped keep Deerfield’s dream for a conference title alive. In the seventh inning, Hahn had scored on a wild pitch to tie the game and send the game into extra innings.
In the eighth, Johnson Creek led off the inning with a homer, giving the Bluejays a 5-4 lead.
“I thought we were done after that happened,” said Gloede. “We had the bottom of the lineup again, they hadn’t been hitting the ball much against the Creek pitchers.”
Deerfield kept the game going in the bottom of the frame. With two outs, Bagley got on base by getting hit by a pitch. Bagley then moved to third on a single from junior Mesfin Drexler.
Bagley then scored the tying run off an RBI single from sophomore Declan Pohlman which kept the game going.
Both teams would be held scoreless until Bagley drove in the winning run nearly two weeks later. If not for the rallies, Johnson Creek would have clinched the title race before the matchup on Tuesday, May 21.
Winning the first game of the doubleheader put Deerfield in a tie for first place with Johnson Creek, but the Demons had to take care of business in the second game to win the conference outright.
In the second game, the two teams were gridlocked in a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning. With two outs, senior Austin Anderson scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch during an at-bat by Drobac.
The run would be enough for Hahn and Suess on the mound. Hahn, who earned the win, left a runner stranded at second base in the sixth by recording a strikeout.
Suess left a runner on first base in the seventh, closing out the game with a groundout for the 3-2 win.
Hahn also drove in Deerfield’s second run of the game, hitting an RBI single in the first to score Anderson. Also in the first, Anderson hit an RBI double to score sophomore Landon Brattlie.
Deerfield finishes the regular season with a record of 16-6, winning the conference title with a record of 13-1.
The Demons are the No. 3 seed in the playoffs and will face the winner of Marshall/Parkview on Tuesday, May 28 in the regional semifinal.
The winner of that game will advance to the regional championship game on Wednesday, May 29 to face the winner of Belleville/Monticello and Pardeeville.
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