Class 5A baseball final: LRCA walks off Valley View

Cade Bowman lined a single up the middle in the bottom of the ninth inning

By Jeff Halpern | Photos by Tommy Land 

CONWAY — Cade Bowman lived every kid’s dream and helped bring Little Rock Christian Academy (31-3) its first baseball state championship in the Class 5A state title game Saturday night at Bear Stadium. 

Bowman lined a single up the middle past a diving Gavin Tice that brought home pinch runner Cole Davis in the ninth inning for a 4-3 victory over Valley View (29-5)

“I was trying to put the ball in the outfield and give us a chance to win,” said Bowman, who was named MVP after going 1-for-3 with 2 RBI and scoring 1 run. “Line drive up the middle got it done for us.”

LRCA head coach Brandon Eller couldn’t have found a better man to have up in that situation.

"When Bowman came up with bases loaded and one out, he’s been one of our most consistent hitters all year and he barrels balls up,” he said. “We faced some good pitching, and he’s been super consistent. He’s a competitor. That’s the moment kids dream of,” said Eller.

The Warriors found themselves in position to win the game when Harrison Engskov led off the inning with a single to right and was replaced Davis. After Clay Smith struck out, Nate Gross singled to right, but right fielder Owen Roach misplayed the ball allowing Gross and Davis to get to second and third. Will Coffman followed with a walk to lead the bases which brought up Bowman.

Facing an 0-2 count with the infield in, Bowman lined the winning hit up the middle.

For Valley View, it was the second consecutive year, the Blazers lost the state championship game in extra innings. A year ago, they fell 10-9 to Harrison in 10 innings.

“I talked to our club afterwards, and I told them I felt we had the best team in the state,” said Valley View head coach Josh Allison. “One game is not going to define us, but we beat several teams that won state championships this year.”

The Blazers defeated 3A champion Harding Academy twice (4-2 on March 30 and 3-2 on April 20) during the regular season and beat LRCA 4-1 on April 14. They also beat 6A runner-up Bentonville 10-7 on May 6.

The game featured several momentum swings.

The Warriors took a 1-0 lead in the first when Tate Collins singled to right to score Bowman.

The Blazers took advantage of two errors by the Warriors in the fourth to take a 2-1 lead.

Slade Caldwell hit a ground ball to the first baseman Smith, who bobbled it. Roach followed with a ginned to center in which Gross misplayed allowing both runners to get to second and third. Starting pitcher Reece Tarini, who struck out 10 in 7 1/3 innings wile allowing 1 earned run on 5 hits with 2 walks, struck out Lawson Ward for the second out. A wild pitch by Tarini allowed Caldwell to score to tie the game 1-1.

Tyler Hoskins followed with a single to right to score Roach to make it 2-1.

In the fifth inning, Jayde Taylor singled to left and Andrew Gartman had a sacrifice bunt to move Taylor to second. After an intentional walk to Caldwell, Roach singled to right to load the bases and Ward had a sacrifice fly to score Taylor to make it 3-1. Caldwell tried to steal home, but was thrown out to end the inning.

Tarini then took charge by retiring his last eight batters, including five on strikeouts.

“My thought after the fourth inning was to keep throwing strikes,” said Tarini. “I knew the defense would back me up and pick me up. Later in games, it seems like I feel looser.”

Despite the adversity in the fourth and fifth innings, Eller said he believed his team would pull out the victory.

“We brought them in and had the same conversation we’ve had all year,” Eller said. “We told them we were going to win. The Lakeside game down, we were down by two in bottom of seventh and we won. Pitching was going to give us a shot to win.”

The Warriors then tied the game in the fifth. Gross singled to right and scored on Coffman’s triple to center. Bowman had a sacrifice fly to score Coffman with the tying run.

LRCA had a chance to take the lead in the sixth when Collins and Smith walked, but Gross lined to center to end the inning.

In the top of the eighth inning, Ward singled to left for Valley View and tried to stretch it into a double, but Tarini fired a relay throw to the shortstop Bowman, who threw to Coffman to tag him out.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Charlie Carter singled for LRCA and was replaced by courtesy runner William Bratton, who was thrown out trying to steal second.

In the top of the ninth, Kayson Becker had an infield single for Valley View with two out, but Noah Ragsdale grounded out to end the inning.

“We knew going in, this was the matchup all year,” said Eller. :”You can tell by the amount of people who were here who wanted to see it. We knew it was a tough one with the pitching depth on both sides. Both sides were a great matchup with the extra innings and went to a second pitcher.

“I’m so happy for our guys. They wanted to leave a legacy and win the first state title for our school in baseball. You can tell by how many people on the field. The way we won it, was awesome.”

Allison said, “We lost to a good team tonight. Eli (Crecelius) pitched well enough to give us a chance to win and gave us the start we needed. I thought Slade pitched great in relief.”

Creceilus allowed 3 runs on 3 hits in 6 innings with 5 strikeouts and 4 walks. Caldwell allowed the winning run 1 on 5 hits in 2 1/3 innings of relief.

Kircher allowed 2 hits in 1 2/3 innings of relief with 1 strikeout.