Norwayne never gave up.
It didn't matter Canton Central Catholic jumped out to an early lead. It didn't matter that the Crusaders took another lead in the seventh inning.
The Bobcats weren't about to let their season end.
Lucas Dudte's single in the bottom of the eighth completed a gutsy 7-6 win in the Division III district semifinals to push Norwayne onto the district final in improbable fashion. The Bobcats will play Manchester in the district championship game Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Norwayne.
Central Catholic had Norwayne on the ropes twice on the Bobcats' home field, taking a 4-0 lead in the first inning and a 6-4 lead in the seventh. And on both occasions the top-seeded hosts responded.
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"Once we got it to 4-2, we got to, 'OK, we're not out of this, we're not going to stop fighting. We're going to trust in what we've done all year,'" Norwayne coach Joe Gilmore said. "We grinded and battled, and when the long ball wasn't happening, we played small ball. ... We believed in what we've done all year and that helped us out a ton today."
Norwayne fought back with two runs in the third and two more in the fifth, highlighted by Logan Dichler's two-run double in the fifth to score Dudte and Ashton Snyder to tie things up at 4-all.
"Logan has been an up-and-down hitter this year but he's been making great contact," Gilmore said. "He's been lining out all the time, but he's been hitting the ball hard. He hit a ball right down the line and we were able to score two on that to tie it up 4-4. Even when we went down 6-4, we believed, 'Hey, we're going to win this game.'"
Central Catholic put the pressure on again with Austin Coy's two-run single in the seventh. But the Bobcats responded again.
It was Dichler once again bringing in a run on a sacrifice fly and Dudte finding his way home on a passed ball to extend the game into extra innings. From there, Brayden Harklau shut down Central Catholic in the eighth to set up Dudte's game-winning hit.
"I think the one person that might not get as much fanfare on our team is Brayden Harklau who came in in that eighth inning and got three outs on 13 pitches," Gilmore said. "He got us right back in the dugout and kept the momentum going. He was awesome. He's another senior, been battling rib injuries, so I shut him down for a couple weeks. ... Now, he's coming back into his own after struggling with injuries this year and I think having another key pitcher in the mix is going to be huge for us going forward."
The group of experienced players that led Norwayne to a third straight Wayne County Athletic League title made sure their season would last at least one more game — and hopefully more. Seniors Dudte and Mike Steingass each had two hits to lead Norwayne's offensive charge in their biggest game to date.
"They've always been so close, last year losing to eventual state champ Kenston," said first-year coach Gilmore. "I really want to see them succeed."
Junior Ashton Snyder settled in after a tough first inning to keep Norwayne in the game as well, finishing with nine strikeouts over seven innings of work, grinding through a tough Central Catholic lineup.
"He said, 'They're not going to like me the rest of the game, Coach,'" Gilmore said of Snyder. "I said, 'They don't have to like you, just go right at them. And that was awesome just to see him push through that moment.'"
Manchester 2, Chippewa 1 (9 innings)
Norwayne and Central Catholic weren't the only ones to produce drama in Creston on Monday.
Chippewa and Manchester needed extra innings to decide their district semifinal, with the Panthers finally coming through in the ninth inning.
Ethan Wright's single in the bottom of the ninth produced the second walk-off win of the day, bringing a heartbreaking end to Chippewa's playoff run.
The Chipps, who beat Wellington and Independence in sectional play to get to this week, did everything to stay in the game, powered by Anderson Hatfield's gem on the mound. Hatfield struck out 10 and allowed just one earned run — including seven straight scoreless innings while maneuvering runners on base — over 8⅓ innings before the Panthers finally mustered the game-winning run.
After trailing 1-0 in the first, Chippewa tied things up in the fifth on Grant Johnson's ground out that scored Isaiah Radebaugh. The Chipps just couldn't muster enough offense the rest of the way to get the run needed to extend their season against the combination of Brady Johnson (6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 8 K, 1 BB) and Wright (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 6 K, 1 BB).
Corbin Marshall led Chippewa with three hits.
St. Clairsville 9, West Holmes 1
Top-seeded St. Clairsville ended West Holmes' season with a decisive win in Division II East District play.
The Knights got a big 7-2 win over Cambridge in last week's sectional final but couldn't find that same magic against the district favorite Red Devils.
Carson Tanner led the Knights with two hits, but St. Clairsville piled up 11 hits of its own while reaching base in other ways to keep the game out of reach by scoring five runs over the first two innings.
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