It's an understatement to say Columbiana is due for a State Championship.
The Clippers have won only one title in school history, and that was in basketball in 1947. This time, it’s the baseball team that’s getting ready for the final four.
Columbiana (21-10) will play in the state semifinals Thursday in Columbus. Their opponent, Newark Catholic, has a record that’s five games under .500, at 14-19.
“Very deceiving,” Columbiana Head Coach Scott Knox said. “They play in a very, very competitive conference, The Mid-States League. And also, they play a lot of bigger schools, Division I and Division II schools. So, they're battle-tested."
This is Newark’s 11th appearance in the final four. In fact, they've been to State six times in the last decade and won four state titles over that span.
Their schedule is probably a lot tougher than most teams,” third baseman Tyler Denmeade said. “So, we're just gonna go in with the attitude that they're the best in the state, and we're gonna have to play a perfect game to beat them."
That could happen, as the team is just two wins away from a State Championship and one win away from school history.
"We're all pretty pumped, so, we hope we at least make it past this game to the final because, we really want to show that we can do it," Denmeade said. "We want to come back and make our community proud."
The Clippers rolled into the State Semifinals this week by dominating the competition. They've won five straight in the tournament and have outscored their opponents 45 to 10.
"I think it's going to be really, really exciting," center fielder Kyle Shaffer said. "Just being in the final four, in division IV. There's a lot of good teams out there, and i'm just proud to say we're one of them."
The last time Columbiana qualified for State was in 1981. This will be Knox's second trip--the first time he was a player.
"I told them, look, you can separate yourself from that 1981 team, and let's go win it all," Knox said. "You've got your own classification of state champs. Because we got beat in the state semis, so they can go further."
"He says he remembers every pitch from that game, and he wants to make sure that we savor every moment of this opportunity," shortstop Andrew Burdick said. "And he wants us to know that we can't lose this opportunity, and we shouldn't make it go to waste."
